If you need a UK or European patent, we provide the expert, professional advice and
representation you need. We can handle all aspects of drafting, filing prosecution,
maintenance and grant before the UK Intellectual Property Office and the European
Patent Office.
If you needs stretch further afield, we can also prepare, file and prosecute International
Patent Applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and handle national/regional
phase entry directly in the UK and Europe and elsewhere via overseas attorneys.
At Hutchinson IP, we do IP differently. By breaking the whole process down into
manageable chunks, we are able to provide, on the whole, fixed-fee professional services
at each stage of the process.
We can either handle the entire prosecution from initial meeting to grant, or we
can provide ad-hoc services and drafting assistance if you would prefer to keep costs
down and/or retain responsibility for your applications. Either way, we'd be delighted
to discuss the options with you without charge or obligation.
At Hutchinson IP we provide professional representation before the United Kingdom
Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Office
for Harmonisation of the Internal Market (OHIM) in relation to (European) Community
Designs and before the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) in relation to International
(PCT) patent applications.
Unlike many firms, we offer value-added filing services, such as pre-filing re-drafting
for compliance with local requirements and, in many cases, to substantially reduce
the official fees. Please click here to find out more about this service.
There can often be strategic advantages to filing in the UKIPO or the EPO as opposed
to certain other Intellectual Property Offices, such as: accelerated processing to
facilitate use of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) scheme; reduced translation
costs (if the application is filed and prosecuted in English); and up to a 100% refund
of the European Search fee if the EPO is used as the International Searching Authority
for a PCT application. At Hutchinson IP, we deliver strategic advice and recommendations
to help clients obtain the maximum benefit from these provisions.
The UKIPO aims to return Search Reports within few months and it is possible to combine
the Search with Substantive Examination to further accelerate the processing of a
UK application. Accelerated processing is also available as of right in the UKIPO
for patent applications relating to "green" technology. As such, it is often possible
to obtain a Search and Examination Report within a few months of filing, i.e. well
before the expiry of the priority year or PCT international phase, thereby enabling
a more informed decision to be made when filing corresponding overseas applications
or entering the national or regional phase.
A further advantage of a UKIPO application is that is possible to obtain a patent
in certain overseas countries, including Hong Kong and Singapore, on the basis of
a patent granted by the UKIPO, or to "extend" a granted UK patent to cover up to
40 further countries*.
Contact us directly to discuss your requirements.
*Anguilla, Antarctic, Antigua, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory,
Brunei, Cayman, Cyprus, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Gambia, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey,
Guyana, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kiribati, Malta, Montserrat, Nauru, Pitcairn, Saint
Helena, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon
Islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Turks
& Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands and Western Samoa.
