Our partners and attorneys are highly qualified and highly experienced to advise you in all areas of Intellectual Property law. We advise start-ups, SMEs, and multinational corporations and ensure that your inventions, brands and designs are expertly protected.
All of the Partners & People of AA Thornton are joining forces with Venner Shipley
To obtain a patent you will first have to file a patent application. There are different options open to you depending on how you want to protect your invention around the world. You can file one or more national patent applications (for example a UK or US patent application), a regional patent application (for example a European patent application) or an international patent application (a Patent Cooperation Treaty application).
At A.A. Thornton & Co. as European and UK patent attorneys, we can help you file a patent application at the UK Intellectual Property Office, at the European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Office. We are also able to help you file at other national offices around the world through the use of our network of foreign associates.
To file a UK, European or PCT application on your behalf, we will generally require the following off you:
A copy of a patent specification, which includes a description of the invention and any relevant drawings, claims and an abstract. Alternatively, if you are filing by reference to a previously filed application we will need the filing details of this application. If either the patent specification or the previously filed application is in a language other than English, we will require a translation, or we can arrange for a translation, into English.
The full name(s), address(es), nationality (s) and state(s) of residence/business of who is applying for the patent (the applicant) the name(s) and address(es) of the inventor(s) along with details of how the rights are transferred to the applicant(s) – this is only needed when the applicant is a company and/or when the inventor is not an applicant and/or the applicant is not an inventor. Examples of rights transferral are “by assignment” “or “by virtue of a contract of employment”. Details of any priority claim that is being made and a copy of the certified priority document.
If filing an application is of urgency to you, please contact us directly as we can advise of some of these requirements that can be omitted on filing and provided to the filing office at a later stage.
If you have already filed a PCT application, we can also help you enter the national phase in the UK or Europe. To do this we will simply need to know the PCT application or publication number and the details of the documents on which the national phase is to be based upon. If the PCT application was published in a language other than English, then we will require, or we can arrange for, a translation into English.
If you would like information on the official fees associated with these filings along with our associated costs, please contact one of our patent attorneys.
