John Fisher > Gill Jennings & Every LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

John Fisher

020 7655 8500 john.fisher@gje.com View profile View profile

Work Department

Chemistry and Life Sciences

Position

Partner

Career

John specialises in patent prosecution and EPO oppositions and appeals in the chemistry sector. He has particular experience in the fields of consumer chemistry, polymer chemistry and intermediates, adhesives, electrochemistry and medicinal chemistry.

John is recognised by clients as an outstanding advocate in EPO oral proceedings. To date he has handled well over 100 oppositions and he currently attends around 15 opposition/appeal hearings per year.

Significant wins at the EPO Board of Appeal over the past year include overturning the revocation of The Procter & Gamble Company’s EP2264138 in appeal case T1621/16. This case was particularly noteworthy because the winning arguments established an important new precedent in relation to the assessment of added subject-matter. T1621/16 was published as a “B decision” (indicating that it marks a significant development in EPO jurisprudence), and it was the first such decision in relation to added subject-matter to be issued by the EPO for several years. It was reported by several major IP blogs (e.g. IPKat, Kluwer, DeltaPatents), in the CIPA Journal (April 2020), and in practice notes issued by several IP firms. It is a particularly notable decision for being pro-patentee and therefore bucking the recent trend of increasingly restrictive approach by the EPO to the allowability of amendments.

A further important win for The Procter & Gamble Company was the defence before the Opposition Division of EP2596093 against oppositions by three major industry competitors. John also overturned the revocation of EP2293920 (Rockwool International A/S) before an expanded Board of Appeal after persuading the board to throw out critical public prior use evidence that had been relied upon by the Opposition Division.

John also contributed to the revocation of a commercially important patent relating to food additives by presenting a defence of the patent in a full mock opposition hearing. This allowed the arguments of the opponent to be tested and refined, ultimately leading to a successful outcome at the EPO hearing.

Alongside his opposition practice, John handles patent prosecution and portfolio management for a number of start-up, SME and corporate clients.

Education

Graduated from King’s College London with a Masters Degree in Chemistry.  He went on to complete a D.Phil in Organic Chemistry at Oxford University, specialising in natural product synthesis.