Elkington + Fife LLP

UK and European patent attorney and UPC representative

Partner

Recommended in the Legal 500, Rob is known for his “wonderful advice and understanding”.  Rob’s specialist technical background is in signal-processing and computer vision. He was working in pattern recognition and machine learning long before the current fashion for “Artificial Intelligence” (AI).

Nowadays, he has broader experience right across the fields of software, electronics and mechanical engineering. This includes several diverse areas of focus, from medical devices to Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), and from X-ray analysis to Internet-of-Things (IoT) inventions.

In his research career, prior to becoming a patent attorney, Rob was actively involved in international standardisation, through the ISO/IEC’s “MPEG” working group. This background gives him a special understanding of the relationship between intellectual property and technical standards.

Much of Rob’s time is spent advising on contentious work – mainly opposing and defending patents in opposition and appeal proceedings before the European Patent Office. He also has an active practice drafting and prosecuting patent applications, for clients ranging from start-ups and university spinouts to multinational corporations. With his extensive experience in opposition proceedings, he understands how to draft and prosecute so that his clients' patents are as robust as possible to future challenge.

English and German

University College Cork, Ireland (B.Eng. (1st Clas Hons)); University of Bristol (Ph.D).