What a chemist needs to know about patents 2022

Dr Darren Smyth

EIP

Darren Smyth is a UK and European Patent Attorney, and is the head of EIP's chemistry practice group EIP Elements. He is known as an authoritative commentator on IP issues, having been a regular contributor to the IPKat weblog and the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice among others.
Darren's clients range from multinational chemical and pharmaceutical companies to universities, spin-outs and start-ups. For these clients, in addition to patent drafting and prosecution, Darren regularly advises on portfolio management issues, handling of the invention disclosure process, validity and freedom to operate opinions, acquisition of IP, and purchaser and vendor due diligence. He is also experienced in contentious work, including oppositions and appeals at the European patent office, and litigation in the UK and other European jurisdictions.
Darren is on the committee of IP Out, the LGBT+ networking group within the IP Inclusive initiative in the UK Intellectual Property professions, and was a speaker at its inaugural event.

Jared Barnard

EIP

Jared works for EIP US LLP as a Registered Patent Attorney and is based in Denver, Colorado. With a background in molecular biology, Jared specializes in preparing and prosecuting patent applications and counseling clients on biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device, and mechanical related inventions. Jared has worked for a variety of law firms including international law firms and served as in-house counsel to private companies. His experience includes advising clients regarding numerous IP issues including in-licensing and out-licensing of technologies and managing the worldwide patent portfolios for life sciences and biotechnology companies. He particularly enjoys counseling and advising clients on IP and patent issues related to mergers and acquisitions.

Dr Jen Le Mière

Inivata Ltd

Jen works for Inivata Ltd as Vice President of Intellectual Property since September 2021, where she manages a small team responsible for all aspects of IP, licensing and contracts. Previously, Jen worked for Kymab Ltd (a Sanofi Company), a biotech start-up based in Cambridge, which was acquired by Sanofi in April 2021, and before that at GSK, in medicinal chemistry, inhaled medicines and the antibody technology group. In addition to the usual patent filing and prosecution work, Jen has extensive experience of managing collaborations with academics and biotech companies and advising on all aspects of licencing, freedom-to-operate and due diligence. She enjoys the contentious side of patent work, having conducted numerous Oral Proceedings before the EPO, and been involved in Irish, German and US litigation. She has conducted patent office contentious proceedings in the US, Australia, Japan and Korea, and been involved in depositions as part of US litigation. Of note, Jen was a key member of the litigation team in Regeneron v Kymab, from UK first instance through to the UK Supreme Court which handed down its decision in Kymab’s favour in June 2020.

Dr Robert Lundie Smith

EIP

Robert Lundie Smith is a partner in EIP, focusing on highly complex patent litigation. Robert has an Msci in chemistry and a PhD in Chemical Physics, both from King’s College London. Prior to turning to the law, Robert worked for two years as a post doc at the University of Lund in Sweden focusing on ultrafast laser and x-ray based studies of structural changes and electron dynamics in organometallics and associated solar cells.