Carpmaels & Ransford LLP

Engineering & Tech

As a Partner within the Engineering and Tech groups, Chris handles a diverse portfolio of technologies in the physical sciences, working with medical device businesses, OEMs in the automotive sector, semiconductor companies, and IT and telecommunications service providers. Chris’s experience in both strategic patent prosecution and opposition and appeal proceedings at the European Patent Office (EPO) has led to long-standing relations with international clients, most notably Johnson & Johnson, for whom Chris handles and defends a huge portfolio covering surgical devices and implants and ophthalmic devices and equipment, and Micron Technology, Inc., one of the world’s leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions.

Chris adopts an upbeat, ambitious and practical approach to his work, and is often called upon to advise on business-critical patent strategies, informed by his careful understanding of the objectives in view and his 30 years of experience in the industry. Notably, Chris defended Micron Technology’s synchronous DRAM business in Micron’s epic 13-year battle with Rambus, in which he successfully neutralized a series of European patents held by Rambus. These cases yielded valuable insights into a series of complex legal questions concerning the extent to which applicants for European patents can redefine the inventions for which they are seeking protection; subsequently, they have been used as a teaching resource by the EPO itself.

Chris is a qualified litigator and has been deeply involved in patent litigation in all the English courts, including the Supreme Court, as well as in France, Germany and Italy. Chris enjoys applying the lessons learned from his extensive opposition practice and his involvement in litigation and is often called upon to engage with technologies outside his core practice where his insights have added significantly to the conduct of litigations and important opposition cases. Recent engagements have included forays into combination therapies and DNA sequencing.

During his professional career, Chris has spent time serving on the Executive Committee of a major international law firm. He was a scholar of St. Peter’s College, University of Oxford, graduating with a first class degree in physics.

BA (Hons) Physics (University of Oxford) Chartered Patent Attorney European Patent Attorney European Patent Litigator