Mike Jennings > AA Thornton > London, England > Lawyer Profile
AA Thornton Offices
Octagon Point
5 Cheapside
LONDON
EC2V 6AA
England
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Mike Jennings
Work Department
Electrical, electronics, telecoms and IT.
Position
Partner Mike Jennings leads AAThornton’s highly rated Electrical Patents group. He specialises in patent protection, patent oppositions and IP strategy advice for a range of technologies including areas of physics, electrical engineering and computer-related inventions.
Mike has more than 20 years’ experience handling patent drafting and prosecution of European, UK and PCT patent applications in areas such as computer systems, storage and software including computer modelling and simulation, automated controls, electromagnetic and optical sensing technologies for locating hydrocarbons and for detecting gases, and telecommunications. Mike handles a substantial opposition case load and has an enviable success rate in EPO oppositions and appeals thanks to commitment and proactivity.Mike also advises on software patentability and infringement and validity of patents.
Mike’s clients include multinational corporations and leading companies in the UK and many other countries, including clients in the oil and gas industry, the telecommunications sector, engineering, gas detection, consumer electronics and computing.
Career
Joined the patent profession in 1990 and spent his early years in private practice with a leading UK firm and with IBM before two years with Spruson & Ferguson in Sydney, Australia. Mike gained several years’ experience as an in-house senior patent attorney for IBM in the UK, handling invention reviews, patent drafting and prosecution and as lead attorney in patent licensing. He joined AA Thornton in 2007 and became a partner in 2008.
Memberships
Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), including Computer Technology Committee; European Patent Institute (EPI); AIPPI; and appointed to quality working group within Standing Advisory Committee before the EPO (SACEPO) for 2017-2020, liaising between industry and EPO management.
Education
University of Bristol (BSc Hons Physics).
Leisure
Mike grew up on the south coast of England and loves messing about in boats with his very active family.
Lawyer Rankings
London > TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > PATMA: Patent attorneys
AA Thornton impresses with its versatility. Between the engineering, physics and mechanical devices patent team, led by Adrian Bennett, the chemistry, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals group led by Craig Turner, and Mike Jennings‘ electrical engineering, electronics telecoms and IT team, the firm covers a wide range of sectors, with the medical device, oil, gas and petrochemical, automotive and aerospace, financial services and agriculture sectors as core focuses. The wider firm also includes a dedicated litigation team that assists with the development of IP strategies, due diligence matters and commercialisation questions. The majority of clients come from Europe, North America, the Far East and India, including multinationals, small and medium-sized companies, academic institutions and individuals. In March 2021 the firm added Simon Davies, formerly at D Young & Co LLP, as a consultant with computer technology expertise to its team. Lawrence King joined Simmons & Simmons in spring 2021.