Dehns

Adrian is a UK and European Patent Attorney, with an MA in Physics from the University of Oxford. Adrian joined Dehns in 1995, became a Partner in 2003, and was appointed as the firm’s Managing Partner in 2022. Adrian has extensive experience of drafting original patent applications for direct clients, from start-ups to larger established companies; in particular he helps them take a commercially-focused strategic approach to building an IP portfolio which maximises company value. He also has in-depth experience in contentious matters including European oppositions and UK and US litigation. He handles patent work in various engineering fields including ultrasonic systems, medical devices, chemical processing systems, traffic management systems and various areas of physics such as optics and optical sensors. Adrian also has significant experience in electronics both at systems level and component level; and in computer-implemented inventions, mainly for smaller companies in areas which have include telecommunications, short range radio data communication and mathematical modelling. His telecommunications experience includes drafting applications in the LTE/5G space – particularly as they apply to IoT devices.

Elaine Deyes

Elaine is a UK Chartered Trade Mark Attorney, who joined Dehns in 1996, having previously obtained an honours degree in Law and French. As part of her university studies, Elaine spent six months studying French and French Law at Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, and six months working in Brussels for a European NGO focusing on ending homelessness in Europe. Elaine was made a Partner of Dehns in 2007, and was appointed Head of Dehns’ Trade Mark Group in 2021. Elaine works with a variety of clients, ranging from individuals to major companies with significant international trade mark portfolios in many different sectors, including fashion, lighting, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, estate agency, finance and insurance, healthcare and fitness, construction and chemistry. She has extensive experience of handling all aspects of UK and European Union Trade Mark clearance, prosecution and enforcement, advising on and implementing searching and filing strategies, dealing with official objections, oppositions and cancellation/invalidity proceedings, advising in the areas of infringement and passing-off, and dispute resolution. She also advises on and handles domain name and company name disputes. Elaine has considerable experience of filing and prosecuting International applications and in the protection and enforcement of trade marks worldwide.

Elizabeth Jones

Elizabeth is a UK Chartered and European Patent Attorney. She joined Dehns in 1993, was made a Partner in 2001 and is a senior member of Dehns’ Life Sciences and Biotechnology group. She holds a number of Chemistry and Biochemistry related degrees from the University of Cape Town and was awarded a PhD by the Open University. Elizabeth is a former Managing Partner of the firm and, in 2022, was elected Senior Partner, responsible for the growth and continued development of the firm. Elizabeth’s clients include sole inventors and small companies, as well as University Technology Transfer Offices and multinationals. She provides a range of services including patentability assessments, drafting, filing and prosecuting patent applications, defending and opposing granted patents and providing advice on aspects such as due diligence, infringement, validity and freedom to practice. Elizabeth handles patent work in the general fields of biochemistry and biotechnology, including genomics, proteomics, immunology, virology and microbiology, particularly in relation to molecular biology-based inventions (such as recombinant products, transgenic plants and animals, genomic therapeutics and diagnostics), screening methods, purification protocols, diagnostic assays and therapeutic and prophylactic inventions.

Hanna Dzieglewska

Hanna joined Dehns in 1987 and became a partner in 1995. After obtaining her First-Class Honours Degree in Biochemistry specialising in Neurochemistry, Hanna went on to obtain a PhD in Biochemistry, focusing primarily on enzymology, protein purification, and microbial physiology. Hanna is Head of the Dehns Biotechnology team. Hanna’s clients include small-to-medium-sized companies or sole inventors, as well as larger companies. Her work includes all aspects of patent portfolio management worldwide and she has extensive experience of working directly and closely with inventors to identify patentable inventions and draft patent specifications, including helping to guide patent-focused research. She has particular experience in developing patent portfolios and IP strategies for her clients, and providing them with robust advice throughout their commercial development process, including all aspects of the patent prosecution process, including EPO and foreign patent prosecution, and opposition work at the EPO. Hanna’s work also includes advising clients in a number of areas including freedom to operate, evaluating patent portfolios and due diligence. Hanna works in many technical areas of biochemistry/biotechnology including a variety of therapeutics and diagnostics, genetic engineering, and industrial biotech processes. Particular areas include antibody and cell-based therapies, aspects of immunology generally, peptide therapeutics, recombinant protein expression, transgenic organisms, vaccines, vectors, biological purifications and separations, nucleic acid manipulations and assays (including isolation, sequencing, amplification, detection, genomic and expression analysis etc), cells (e.g. cell culture, isolation, manipulation, assays etc) and also in related areas such as medical uses of known compounds.

John Tothill

John joined Dehns in 1991 and became a Partner in 1999. He studied physics and materials science with options in electronics, microelectronics and optical materials at the University of Cambridge. In 2017, John was appointed as Dehns’ Head of Tech, Software and Engineering, with overall responsibility for the firm’s Electronics and Communications, Software and Artificial Intelligence, Physical Sciences and Materials, and Engineering groups. John is responsible for large patent portfolios for a number of high-technology multinational corporations. This includes drafting patents for new inventions and prosecuting patent applications in the UK, Europe, the USA and throughout the world, as well as advising on contentious issues and addressing any validity challenges that arise. He also has particular interest and experience in assisting and advising SMEs, new and start-up companies in high technology industries both in the UK and Europe. This includes developing intellectual property portfolios, exploiting intellectual property assets and addressing the intellectual property of competitors. John drafts and prosecutes patent applications in all areas of high technology, including electronics, microelectronics and microprocessors, computing, software, telecommunications, optics and other physics and engineering fields. John has particular expertise in drafting patents for filing in the USA and in prosecuting patent applications in the USA. John also regularly advises on infringement and validity of patents in these fields and on related issues, including the exploitation and use of intellectual property rights. He has also been heavily involved in a number of major telecommunications cases, including litigation of patents concerning the GPRS standard and mobile email systems, and has particular experience in advising on patents relating to telecommunications standards and in licensing negotiations relating to patents alleged to be essential to standards.

Louise Golding

Louise joined Dehns in 1990 after graduating from the University of Oxford where she obtained an Honours Degree in Natural Sciences (Chemistry). Her studies at Oxford included a year’s research in quantum physics. Louise became a Partner in 2002 and Head of the Dehns Chemical group in 2020. Louise handles patent work in all areas of chemistry including pharmaceuticals, medical methods and devices, nutraceuticals, oil and gas technology, and polymers. Her clients range from Universities and start-ups to multi-national corporations. She has many long-term clients in Scandinavia, in particular in Norway. Louise has considerable experience in patent drafting for a number of direct clients and routinely provides advice on IP strategy. She also has many years of experience handling worldwide prosecution of patents in a diverse range of chemical fields, and especially pharmaceuticals. For several clients her work also involves the preparation of due diligence reports for potential investors and providing advice on freedom-to-operate issues.

Paul Harris

Partner and Head of Litigation at Dehns, Paul is a qualified solicitor and joined the firm in 2021. His 38 years’ experience covers the full range of contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters. Paul’s litigation practice incorporates UKIPO appeals and cases before the Business & Property Courts of England & Wales (Patents Court; IPEC), and the Court of Appeal (Civil); while his litigation experience and tactical expertise is called upon in cases currently before the UPC. Paul’s experience extends across a range of technologies, incorporating, inter alia, complex chemical, electronics and mechanical. He successfully defended Black & Decker in a patent action brought by Electrolux, the outcome of which led to changes in the Patents Court Guidelines on experiments and expert’s reports. He was involved in the erythropoietin litigation (Kirin Amgen); and stent litigation (Boston Scientific); and acted for the defendant in Icescape v Ice-World International, at first instance and on appeal - the first case to provide guidance on the application of the doctrine of equivalents following the decision in Actavis v Eli Lilly. Paul is known for his trade mark practice (registered and unregistered). He successfully litigated the first case under the Trade Marks Act 1994 (Wagamama Ltd v City Centre Restaurants plc). More recently, he was involved in the extended passing off case: Fage v Chobani, and successfully steered longstanding client, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., in a trade mark infringement/ jurisdictional battle involving a former distributor (The Black & Decker Corporation v Dvize). Paul handled the Dyson v Strutt litigation, relating to misuse of confidential information: the same action laid down guidance on the important issue of common costs recovery. He led the successful team in the First Conference v Bracchi case, which included executing an interlocutory search and seizure order against the defendant. Paul’s expertise in non-contentious IP matters is called upon by domestic and international clients alike. He provides corporate support, strategic advice and innovative solutions across all aspects of IP, including programmes for registration in overseas jurisdictions; patent analysis and assessment; negotiation and licensing arrangements (incorporating multi-national and cross-licensing and co-existence agreements); and due diligence on the sale of businesses. Paul notably played a part in the £2 billion sale to Du Pont of ICI’s film business. Paul also deals with the copyright and design rights, and has acted for a management buy-out team in relation to computer software and hardware. Paul has lectured on patents, trade marks and confidential information. Well-known domestically and internationally, he has been invited to speak at conferences across the UK, Europe, the USA and the Middle East. He has, since 1995, taught aspects of trade mark law on the Intellectual Property Diploma Course at the University of Oxford. In addition, Paul has written extensively on IP matters, and been published widely, particularly on patent and trade mark-related issues.

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