Richard Gordon-Brown

Partner, UK and European Patent Attorney, Design Attorney
Bath

理查德•戈登•布朗

Rick enjoys tailoring his work to help companies achieve their business goals. He has extensive private practice experience advising on patent and registered design matters for clients from SMEs to multinationals, and in-house experience from a five-year secondment to the patents department of a FTSE 100 multinational. This combination enables him to provide commercially focussed, pragmatic advice.

Since entering the patent profession in 2004, Rick has developed considerable expertise in invention harvesting and patent drafting. He has written 100s of patent applications relating to mechanical, electromechanical and manufacturing technologies for clients in industries such as aerospace, marine, transport & logistics, consumer electronics, FMCG, packaging and dispensers, printing, medical devices, and electromagnetic energy harvesters.

Rick also is adept at managing prosecution of multijurisdictional patent families in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australasia in the above technology areas and others including automotive, railway infrastructure, snack food manufacture, mobile telecommunications and data storage. He also advises on patent infringement & validity and freedom-to-operate matters.

During his secondment, Rick gained a valuable insight into the commercial realities of a multinational consumer products company, management of patent and design portfolios, and risks posed by third party rights. The role also placed him at the receiving end of advice from other patent firms directly engaged by the company, so he very much has first-hand experience of seeing things from a client’s perspective.

Rick also is head of the EIP Designs group. His work with registered designs has included the preparation, filing and prosecution of design applications for various mechanical devices as well as for less conventional subject matter, such as digital user interfaces, logos and room interiors, and providing freedom-to-operate advice. Since 2015, he also has been a contributor to the CITMA & CIPA Community Designs Handbook, which is published by Sweet & Maxwell and is a valuable reference for IP attorneys.

Experience

  • Co-ordinating the drafting and concurrent first-filing of a batch of more than 50 patent applications relating to a commercially highly-important consumer product
  • Defending a granted European patent from opposition while retaining a scope of protection considered to cover a competitor’s product
  • Drafting and worldwide prosecution of patent applications relating to miniaturised induction heating technology for consumer electronic devices
  • In-house secondment work including managing patent and design portfolios relating to consumer products, packaging and manufacturing machinery, determining filing plans in view of the company's and competitors’ operations, budget limitations and regulatory constraints, collaborating with R&D teams and strategizing how best to protect their innovations, instructing outside counsel and critiquing their work, and helping to develop governance procedures
  • Harvesting innovations and preparing and filing patent and registered design applications to protect key assets of a young UK-based PLC
  • Drafting dozens of patent applications relating to personal care products and packaging, in crowded technical fields
  • Providing freedom-to-operate advice in view of registered designs relating to personal care products and packaging

Recent work

  • Ongoing drafting and prosecution of patent applications for a global transport & logistics company
  • Ongoing drafting and prosecution of patent applications for a multinational commercial aircraft manufacturer
  • Providing freedom-to-operate advice in relation to aircraft landing gear systems
  • Drafting and prosecuting patent applications relating to fuel system modifications to enable operation with new fuels

Published articles

  • June 2022
    Startups Magazine, IP considerations arising from increased micro mobility competition (link)
  • April 2022
    The Times, Innovation will finally get electric cars on our roads (link)
  • December 2021
    Plant Planet, Agtech: Protecting your intellectual property in the field (link)
  • November 2021
    Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Internal combustion engines could play a part in decarbonisation – here’s how (link)
  • July 2021
    Newsflash, How could internal combustion engines help drive decarbonisation? (link)
  • 2015 to present
    The CITMA & CIPA Community Designs Handbook published by Sweet & Maxwell, regular updates to Chapter 3: “Making a Registered Community Design Application”

Education and qualifications

    Rick has a strong background and interest in mechanical engineering. He is an Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (AMIMechE), and during his Master’s degree he specialised in automotive engineering and was an active member of his university’s Formula Student motor racing team, which designed, built and competed a single-seat racing car.

  • Chartered UK Patent Attorney
  • European Patent Attorney
  • 2005 — 2006
    Certificate in Intellectual Property Law, Queen Mary College, University of London
  • 1999 — 2003
    MEng Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham

Career history

  • 2014 — present
    Partner, EIP
  • 2013 — 2014
    Partner, Page White & Farrer
  • 2007 — 2013
    Patent Attorney, Page White & Farrer
  • 2004 — 2007
    Patent Assistant, Mewburn Ellis LLP

Awards and recognition

  • WIPR Leader 2023, Patent Leaders, United Kingdom (link)
  • IAM Patent 1000, 2023. 'Engineer Richard Gordon-Brown also boasts deep technical insight and knows how to see things from a client’s point of view.' (link)
  • Legal 500, 2023 (link)
  • WIPR Leaders 2022, Patent Leader, United Kingdom (link)
  • Legal 500, 2022
  • Legal 500, 2021
  • Legal 500, 2020

Speaking engagements

  • July 2021
    EntreConf, What Entrepreneurs Need to Know About Patents
  • November 2015
    Niche Vehicle Network Annual Members' Forum, Protecting Innovation
  • March 2015
    EIP Seminar, Effective Innovation Planning