The Team

The ip21 team consists of hand-picked, well-qualified and experienced patent and trademark attorneys, assistants and support staff. The attorneys employed by the company cover a full range of academic disciplines and all have a science or engineering degree, plus the professional qualifications appropriate to their role.

Key personnel include:

William Jones. CPA, EPA, RTMA, FIILP. BSc
Chairman and Head of Professional Services.

A graduate in Mechanical Engineering and a Chartered Engineer with over 35 years experience in the patent and trademark profession. He founded ip21 with John Williams in 2000 after successfully starting and running his own practice in Norwich and York, which he successfully sold in 1997 to a pan-european IP group. He has lectured in Intellectual Property Law and on the CIPA/TMPDF Core Skills course for Trainee Patent Attorneys and is chairman of the CIPA textbook and publications committee. He is also a Fellow of the International Institute of Licensing Practitioners.

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Ian Bishop, CPA, EPA, M.Eng, MSc (IP)
Director and Patent Attorney.

Ian is a graduate engineer from Sheffield University and Ruhr Universität Germany. He worked at Ford in Germany and a leading French patent practice before joining ip21 in 2001. He is fluent in French, German & Spanish and has extensive experience working in the materials science and structural engineering groups of the automotive industry.

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Peter Wilson, CPA, EPA, PhD, BSc
Patent Attorney.

Peter holds a BSC(Hons) in Food Processing Technology and a PhD in Mathematical Modeling of Microbial Growth. Peter is the author of over 30 academic papers of mathematical modelling in the Life Sciences. Prior to joining ip21, he spent 16 year at the Institute of Food Research (IFR), where he worked extensively on the design of bioreactor systems for plant biotechnology and provided mathematical modeling expertise in multidisciplinary teams in human nutrition, food materials and food safety microbiology.

His last role at the IFR was developing and implementing a policy to exploit the Intellectual Property of the IFR. In this role, he has worked closely with a wide range of industrial clients and academic institutions. He brings a wide experience of life science to his role at ip21.

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James King CPA, EPA, RTMA
Patent Attorney

James joined ip21 when his practice, Kings Patent Agency, merged with ip21 in 2005. He has over 35 years experience in drafting, filing and prosecuting patent, design and trademark applications for a wide range of clients and companies both in the UK and abroad. An engineer by discipline he specialises in Avionics, Microwave Engineering and Ordinance.

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Debra Hiddleston, RTMA, BA
Trademark Attorney

Debra graduated in 1988 from Middlesex University gaining a BA (Hons) in Music and English Literature. She has worked in Intellectual property since 1992 gaining a wide range of experience covering both corporate and private practice. Debra is based in our London Office and joined ip21 in January 2008 to strengthen the team in response to growing demand for our services in the Trade Mark field.

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Christopher Aldridge Cert IP, BSc (Physics)
Patent Specialist.

Chris graduated from Leeds University with a BSc in Physics in 2002. He then worked in a private practice based in London and gained the Certificate in Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary College London. He joined ip21 in February 2008 and is based in our London office.

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Jeffrey Morris Cert IP, MSc (Comp. Sci.), B. Eng (Elect. Eng.)
Patent Specialist.

Jeff spent three years with Marconi Communication as a Software Design Engineer. Here he was responsible for the development of embedded software for Photonic (Optical) Metropolitan Communication and Data Network Systems. He joined ip21 in 2003 to train as a patent attorney.

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Jonathan Perlmutter CertIP, BVC, PGdipLS, BA
Patent Specialist.

Jonathan was called to the Bar in 2005, having previously attained a first class degree from Durham University. During his legal studies, he was awarded the James Bushell memorial scholarship and the Hardwicke award by Lincoln’s Inn. Since joining ip21 in 2006 he has attained the Certificate in Intellectual Property from Queen Mary College, London. Jonathan has a particular interest in design rights and the licensing of intellectual property assets.

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Oliver Harris MBiochem (Oxon), PhD, Cert. IP
Patent Specialist.

Oliver graduated from the University of Oxford with a Masters Degree in Biochemistry. He then gained a PhD in Cell Biology at Cancer Research UK (London) under the supervision of Nobel Laureate, Sir Paul Nurse. He worked as a Health Research Reviewer and an Internet Research Consultant before entering the patent profession in 2007, working in private practice in London. He gained the Certificate in Intellectual Property Law with distinction at Queen Mary College London in 2009. In 2010 he joined ip21 to continue to train as a patent attorney. He handles a range of bioscience subject matter, particularly in the fields of molecular biology, plant biotechnology and immunology.

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Melanie Harvey, MSc. BEng (Electronic Engineering)
Trademark Specialist.

Melanie was trained initially at the MOD. She has worked in a wide variety of engineering and electrical engineering applications concerning radar and weapons systems. She has also written a number of published papers on mobile robots. She joined ip21 in 2002 from another private practice and has worked in both the patent and trademark departments. She is working towards full qualification as a trade mark attorney.

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Sarah Dacre BA (Hons), PGDL, DIP Legal Practice
Trademark Specialist.

Sarah graduated in 1995 from University of Derby gaining a BA in Law with Social Science. Since then she has undertaken further study of law, gaining a Post Graduate Diploma in Law, and Diploma in Legal Practice. Since 2001 Sarah has worked in both private practice and in-house as a trade mark advisor. She is working towards full qualification as a trade mark attorney. She joined ip21 in July 2009 and is based in the London office.

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Alan Eklid, SFEDI accredited
Business Advice Manager.

A metallurgist by profession Alan joined the Design Council in 1990 as National Materials & Design Adviser. He became Design and Innovation Counsellor for Business Link in 1998 prior to joining ip21 in 2001.

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Alice Dodds, BA
Formalities and Administration Manager.

Alice graduate in History, specialising in the History of Medicine from the University of East Anglia in 2004. Since joining ip21 in 2005 Alice has gained a Certificate in Patent Administration from The Charted Institute of Patent Attorneys and a Certificate in Trade Mark Administration from The Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys. Alice manages ip21’s Formalities, Administration and Accounts teams at the Norwich office.

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Michelle Yeomans, BA (Hons)
Formalities Officer.

Michelle graduated from Anglia Polytechnic University in 2001 with a BA (Hons) in Business Administration. Since joining the Formalities team in 2008, she has gained the Certificate in Patent Administration, with distinction, from the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA)

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