Intellectual property

Alan is familiar with and operates over a wide range of technologies including computer communications, mobile telecommunications, compression and decompression technologies, display and optical technologies, medical device technologies including robotic surgery and diagnostic devices and clean technologies including heat pumps, energy recovery, and battery technologies including charging systems. He also has extensive knowledge of navigation and routing systems, sensing devices, such as inductive and capacitive sensors used in the automotive and computer fields, robotics, control systems and signal processing techniques underlying many computer implemented inventions, including those commonly used in Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. Alan advises extensively on software and business method related inventions, particularly in the financial services sector (FinTech).

Highly experienced in Opposition and Appeal procedures before the European Patent Office, Alan has recently won a number of important EPO Opposition and Appeal cases.  In the last two months, these have included the successful defence of an Opposition filed against an EP patent of one of his medical device clients, as well as the successful defence of an Opposition Appeal for the same client.  Alan won the Opposition case with only a minor amendment to the granted claims that does not affect the commercial importance of the patent.  In the Appeal case, he originally won the case at the Opposition stage in 2015 and has now successfully defended the win at the Appeal stage.

Alan is a member of International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI).

Alan MacDougall heads up our Cambridge office and has over two decades of experience within the electronics and communications sectors. He works for high profile clients such as NEC, GHD and Intuitive Surgical. Alan also takes the lead in our Japanese business development projects.

Alan has many years’ experience of drafting patents, prosecuting them through the UK and European Patent Offices, advising on infringement and validity, and the commercialisation of clients’ IP, as well as offering global IP strategic advice, including freedom-to-operate advice, licensing advice, entitlement disputes and competitor monitoring.

Strathclyde University - BA (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering; MA Communications, Digital Signal Processing and Control.