Alan MacDougall > Mathys & Squire LLP > Cambridge, England > Lawyer Profile
Mathys & Squire LLP Offices
THE PLATINUM BUILDING
ST JOHN'S INNOVATION PARK, COWLEY ROAD
CAMBRIDGE
CB4 0DS
England
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Alan MacDougall
Work Department
Intellectual property
Position
Alan MacDougall heads up our Cambridge office and has over two decades of experience within the electronics and communications sectors. He works for high profile clients such as NEC, GHD and Intuitive Surgical. Alan also takes the lead in our Japanese business development projects.
Alan has many years’ experience of drafting patents, prosecuting them through the UK and European Patent Offices, advising on infringement and validity, and the commercialisation of clients’ IP, as well as offering global IP strategic advice, including freedom-to-operate advice, licensing advice, entitlement disputes and competitor monitoring.
Career
Alan is familiar with and operates over a wide range of technologies including computer communications, mobile telecommunications, compression and decompression technologies, display and optical technologies, medical device technologies including robotic surgery and diagnostic devices and clean technologies including heat pumps, energy recovery, and battery technologies including charging systems. He also has extensive knowledge of navigation and routing systems, sensing devices, such as inductive and capacitive sensors used in the automotive and computer fields, robotics, control systems and signal processing techniques underlying many computer implemented inventions, including those commonly used in Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. Alan advises extensively on software and business method related inventions, particularly in the financial services sector (FinTech).
Highly experienced in Opposition and Appeal procedures before the European Patent Office, Alan has recently won a number of important EPO Opposition and Appeal cases. In the last two months, these have included the successful defence of an Opposition filed against an EP patent of one of his medical device clients, as well as the successful defence of an Opposition Appeal for the same client. Alan won the Opposition case with only a minor amendment to the granted claims that does not affect the commercial importance of the patent. In the Appeal case, he originally won the case at the Opposition stage in 2015 and has now successfully defended the win at the Appeal stage.
Memberships
Alan is a member of International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI).
Education
Strathclyde University – BA (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering; MA Communications, Digital Signal Processing and Control.
Lawyer Rankings
London > TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > PATMA: Patent attorneys
Mathys & Squire LLP’s ‘depth of knowledge in IP law’ extends to patent-related mandates, and its client roster includes large global companies, as well as start-ups, entrepreneurs, and universities. The group has demonstrable strength in opposition proceedings and is able to utilise the firm’s litigation team, and it is also handling an increasing number of patent filings. London-based Jane Clark heads up the team with notable experience in the IT sector alongside engineering specialist Paul Cozens, chemistry specialist Chris Hamer, life science expert Martin MacLean, and Alan MacDougall in Cambridge, who has extensive expertise in the electronics and communications sectors. Dani Kramer is another key team member and he ‘is highly recommended as an experienced professional with a proven track record in IP matters’.