Department:
Chemical & Life Sciences

Location:
London

Service:
Patents, Licensing and Litigation

Industry:
Biotechnology, Chemical, Medical Devices, Nanotechnology, Pharmaceutical

Contact: skillin@vennershipley.co.uk

Stephen is a Chartered and European patent attorney with over twenty years' experience in the IP profession. Stephen joined Venner Shipley in 1991 having begun his professional career in the intellectual property department of a leading firm of London solicitors.

Stephen specialises in chemical subject matter, including pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemistry, protein and peptide chemistry, formulation chemistry, novel modes of drug delivery, synthetic organic chemistry, nanotechnology, microfluidics, catalytic chemistry and process chemistry. Stephen also has an interest in enzymology and immunology, and in the biosynthesis of therapeutically active compounds. 

Stephen has extensive experience in patent procurement and in advising clients on the exploitation and enforcement of patents. Stephen regularly advises clients on validity and infringement issues, as well as providing freedom to operate reports, due diligence analyses, intellectual property audits and other assessments required in connection with the commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights. Stephen has extensive experience in conducting ex parte, opposition and appeal proceedings at the European Patent Office. Stephen also has considerable experience of infringement and revocation proceedings in the Patents Court of the United Kingdom High Court of Justice, as well as courts in other European jurisdictions, and regularly advises on and assists clients with such litigation matters.

Stephen has a special interest in the pharmaceutical industry, where he regularly provides advice on infringement and validity issues and freedom to operate reports for companies wishing to enter existing markets. In the past few years, Stephen has successfully assisted clients in obtaining a declaration of non-infringement in relation to a competitor’s patents prior to launch and in the defence of two patent infringement suits in the Patents Court, as well as being involved in a number of patent revocation actions in the courts of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Denmark. 

Stephen has lectured on infringement and validity at the Patent Academy organized by GenericsWeb®, for personnel of generic and innovator pharmaceutical companies, and regularly attends meetings of the European Generic Medicines Association (EGA) and the Fédération Internationale de Conseils en Propriété Industrielle (FICPI).

Professional Memberships

Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
Member of the European Patent Institute
Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Chartered Chemist
Associate Member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
Member of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI)

Education

Stephen has an honours degree in Chemistry from the University of London, King's College, where he won the D.W.G. Style Prize for Practical Chemistry in 1982.  He also has a DPhil in Organic Chemistry from the University of Oxford, where he carried out research in Sir Jack Baldwin’s group at the Dyson Perrins Laboratory. His doctoral research was on penicillin biosynthesis and encompassed fields of ß-lactam chemistry, enzymology, monoclonal antibody technology and genetic engineering.