Venner Shipley LLP

Anton Hutter

Anton is a European and Chartered Patent Attorney, and works in our Guildford office. He is a Partner in our Chemical and Life Sciences team. Anton specialises in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, chemical and medical device patent matters. In particular, he has a deep understanding of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, genomics & proteomics, therapeutic antibodies, immunology, immuno-oncology, plant biotechnology, peptides, biomarkers, bioinformatics, diagnostics, vaccines, stem cells, formulations, chemical engineering,  pharmaceuticals and SPC’s.  Anton is especially knowledgeable in patenting genome editing techniques, including CRISPR, as well as neurodegenerative disorders (primarily Alzheimer’s disease) and gene therapy inventions. Anton has gained considerable experience in handling all aspects of patent practice, especially meeting inventors directly, and drafting and prosecuting patent applications before the UKIPO, the EPO and national patent offices. Anton has drafted hundreds of patent applications in the biotechnology, chemical and pharma sectors, and is experienced in managing international patent filing strategies for his clients. Anton has significant experience of advising clients in relation to patent infringement and validity, freedom-to-operate clearances of third party patents, and providing due diligence opinions. Anton also enjoys complex opposition and appeal work, and regularly attends oral proceedings at the EPO. Anton works for a broad spectrum of clients, and has extensive experience of working with academic institutions and associated technology transfer departments, university-derived spin-out companies, SME’s, as well as large multinational biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He is proactive, and provides his clients with clear, commercially relevant advice. Anton regularly lectures on a variety of IP-related topics, including patenting bioscience inventions.

Clare Turnbull

Clare is a chartered UK trade mark attorney and heads up Venner Shipley’s trade mark team. She has been working in trade marks since 2001 but has a lifetime of experience in the legal profession. Prior to training and qualifying as a Chartered Trade Mark Attorney, Clare worked and qualified as an Associate of the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen. Her experience with legal costs gives her valuable insight into controlling and managing costs for her clients, who value not only this but the pragmatic and strategic advice she gives them. Although her passion lies with Trade Marks, Clare also has interests in and advises on designs and plant variety rights. Clare is a contributor to the UK Trade Marks Handbook.

Gary Whiting

Gary is a European and Chartered Patent Attorney in our Electronics, Software and Communications team. Gary has been working with patents, mainly in the fields of electronics, software, telecommunications and engineering since joining the patent profession in 1997. Gary has always enjoyed supporting a wide spectrum of clients, including university spin-outs, SMEs and large multi-national corporations. In addition, he has spent almost ten years working as an in-house patent attorney, resulting in a practical, commercially-focused approach to intellectual property in general and patents in particular. Gary has drafted and prosecuted many patent applications around the world and has particular experience of patent prosecution before the UK, European, US, Chinese and German Patent Offices. He also has extensive experience in providing freedom-to-operate advice, including the understanding and mitigation of risk.

Jane Martin

Jane is a chartered trade mark attorney at Venner Shipley with over 35 years of experience. Before joining a private practice in 2000, Jane was a director at Markforce, the legal arm of the global branding Agency Interbrand. While there she regularly conducted multi-territory and International searching and filing programmes and managed the global Trade Mark portfolios of a number of multinational businesses.

Jonathan Hancox

Jonathan is an experienced European and Chartered Patent Attorney in our Electronics, Software and Communications team. Jonathan trained and qualified in private practice, following which, in 2002, he joined Kimberly-Clark, a US-based multinational consumer goods corporation, as in-house European Patent Counsel. In this role, he gained significant commercial experience in the areas of European Oppositions and Appeals, infringement clearance, validity assessments and patent enforcement. Jonathan returned to private practice in 2009. Jonathan handles patent work across the engineering field, including mechanical, electrical and electronic subject-matter. He also handles registered designs.

Richard Kennedy

Richard is a European and Chartered Patent Attorney and is a partner at the firm. He deals with patent matters in a range of deep tech areas including machine learning, photonics and quantum computing. Clients describe him as “a great team player” who “gets results” and as being “very personable to work with” (Legal 500, 2020). In its 2021 guide, the Legal 500 notes that he “has unique understanding in the machine learning field and understands the intricacies and depth of description required for prosecution support and exceptional claim breadth”. Other client feedback endorses his “very strong technical skills on complex machine learning subject matter”, and notes that he is “highly in-tune with ongoing policy developments”, having been at the “forefront of debates around AI and IP”. Richard has extensive experience of working with multinational companies and SMEs, usually acting as outside counsel but also at times in an outsourced “in-house” role, and has also assisted a variety of start-ups and universities. He takes a practical, collaborative and commercial approach to patent work, and enjoys working with clients to secure best protection for their innovation. His practice covers invention capture, original drafting, patent prosecution before the EPO and around the world, as well as oppositions, freedom-to-operate opinions, and appeals. Richard lectures in patent drafting for AI inventions at the Centre d’Études Internationales de la Propriété Intellectuelle (CEIPI).

Rob Cork

Robert is a European and Chartered Patent Attorney in our Electronics, Software and Communications team. Rob has extensive experience of drafting and prosecuting UK and European patent applications for electronic and software-implemented inventions, and specialises in cases with technically complex subject-matter. He also advises clients on the management and prosecution of patent applications in other jurisdictions, including the US, China and Japan. He has successfully obtained granted patents for clients across a wide range of technical fields, including networking, telecommunications and broadcasting standards, user interfaces, image processing algorithms, global navigation systems, and satellite technology. Rob works with a wide variety of clients. He always strives to provide clear, commercially-focused advice, and ensures that his clients are fully aware of the commercial implications of a particular course of action before any decisions are taken.