Our origins go back over 200 years. The profession of patent agent or patent attorney, and the business which became that of Carpmaels & Ransford, were both started by a man of enterprising spirit named James Poole, who in 1776 was appointed Clerk of Inventions in the Patent Office of the Attorney General. At that time, applications for patents for inventions in England were subjected to a series of procedural steps beginning with a humble petition to the Crown and involving referral to several different Government departments and the payment of about 20 different official fees. Inventors found the procedure very confusing. As one of the principal officials applying part of the procedure, James Poole was familiar with the system. He had the bright idea of helping both the inventor and himself. For a modest fee he would offer to represent the inventor and relieve him of the trouble of personally going through the various procedural steps. The Attorney General had no objection to this extra-curricular activity, and Poole gradually built up a substantial practice under the title of patent agent.

The business passed to William Carpmael in 1848, an engineer who had joined the firm to assist its clients in drafting patent specifications. In 1852 a new Patents Act brought English Patent law and procedures into something resembling its modern form. William Carpmael was one of the creators of the new law.

In its first years, most of the inventions with which the firm was concerned were in the mechanical and engineering field. As time went by other technical fields were opened up. At an early stage the firm became involved in the electrical and radio industries as well as in the chemical industry. Among the earliest foreign clients of the firm in these fields were Giuseppe Marconi and Farbenfabriken Bayer (now Bayer AG). More recently the firm has represented some of the major world-wide players in the pharmaceutical, electronic and genetic engineering fields, while maintaining its activity in the general chemical, chemical engineering and mechanical fields.

Our trade mark practice originally began in order to assist patent clients who needed to protect their trade marks. Soon the trade mark practice developed in its own right and the firm now has many trade mark clients with no patent connection with the firm, including many household names.

Since The UK Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys received its first Royal Charter in 1891, seven of its Presidents have been partners in the firm. Most recently, Chris Mercer served as President of the epi, of which all European Patent Attorneys from all countries who practice before the European Patent Office are members.