Frodo Ferro > Kilburn & Strode LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Frodo Ferro

fferro@kilburnstrode.com View profile

Work Department

Patents, Tech Practice Group

Position

Partner

Career

Frodo brings a broad legal, commercial and technical background to clients. He has a wealth of experience in management and world-wide prosecution of large portfolios of thousands of assets, but he is far more than just a patent prosecutor, he has a uniquely commercial focus to his practice. His experience extends into a wide range of aspects of IP including licensing patents relevant to standards (such as IEEE 802.11 and 802.15.4, in-vehicle network standards, HD-radio and DAB+), litigation and commercial IP negotiations, whilst also advising on inter-related issues like trade-secrets, software and finance.

Technically, Frodo has an intimate knowledge of semiconductor technology and industry. For almost a decade he headed the European IP department of a US based fab-lite company. Beyond semiconductors, having a background in applied physics means Frodo has worked on a diverse range of technologies from medical device technology to telecommunications and from planar antennas to financial software.

From his time in-house, he is acutely aware of both what matters to clients and how IP fits within the big picture of a company. Having had his own “Eureka”-moment (he is co-inventor on US patent US10121373), Frodo knows being a patent attorney is not about legal memos, but providing helpful advice and solving the problems of businesses. This has given Frodo a strong belief that patents should bring commercial value to a business.

He is often involved in complex negotiations for his clients, particularly in patent and technology licensing and R&D collaborations. This varies from negotiating in- and outbound technology and software licenses for software defined radio in the middle of ongoing patent litigation between a client’s technology supplier and the client’s prospective customer, via a semiconductor giant’s participation in an artificial intelligence research institute to the licensing of university patents by a medical technology start-up.

Frodo also has significant experience in contentious matters. Although he is keen to pre-empt issues before they go to court, he has been involved in a significant number of cases in the Dutch courts. Amongst those was the Dutch part of a global clash between two of the largest semiconductor equipment suppliers in the world, but he also dealt with disputes on other technologies like composite bridge structures and engine repair tools. Most recently, he has been involved in a dispute on community wi-fi involving one of the major internet service providers in the Netherlands.

Currently living in the Netherlands, Frodo lived and worked for a long time in France, and is fluent in Dutch, French and English.

Memberships

EPI
Orde van Octrooigemachtigden
AIPPI
LES
Koninklijk instituut van ingenieurs

Education

European patent attorney, Dutch patent attorney (“Octrooigemachtigde”), Applied Physics (M.Sc.), Commercial law (LL.M)- both University of Groningen.