Jonathon Woodward

Senior Associate

Jonny bridges the Engineering, Tech and Materials practice groups, and handles a wide range of subject matter that covers everything from medical technology to consumer products. Particular areas of expertise include engineering and device-based innovations in the healthcare and life sciences sector, where Jonny has worked on everything from surgical staplers and electro-catheters to PCR machines. Beyond this, Jonny’s experience extends into numerous other areas, and he has handled portfolios covering everything from fiber-reinforced polymers to consumer products and suitcases. Jonny’s experience of straddling different traditional practice areas gives him a unique insight when facing problems and devising creative solutions.

Jonny’s experience covers the full IP lifecycle, from helping start-ups identify their inventions, drafting and prosecuting patent applications to protect these, and attacking and defending the resulting patents in post-grant contentious proceedings. Jonny has handled numerous opposition cases at the EPO, both at first instance and at appeal stages. He has both attacked and defended patents successfully, quickly identifying the turning points of a case, and using carefully delivered advocacy to shore up weaknesses and exploit strengths. By focusing on the technical details of the case while maintaining awareness of the bigger picture of the dispute, Jonny has achieved commercially relevant results for his clients that go beyond simply taking out or saving a patent.

Beyond patent protection, Jonny has extensively advised on and used registered designs to obtain cost effective and rapid protection for a wide range of clients in Europe and beyond, helping build the value of their portfolios and the speed at which they can be enforced. He has extensive knowledge of global design practice and prosecution, and has made creative use of the Hague international design system to optimise initial and global design filing strategies to deliver significant cost saving to his clients, while obtaining rapid global protection.

Jonny graduated from the University of Oxford with a first-class degree in Engineering in 2013, placing in the top 5% of a course that gave him a good understanding of everything from structures to circuit theory. After focusing on Materials Science and Mechanics, he was awarded the IMechE Frederic Barnes Waldron Prize for the highest-placing Mechanical Engineering student in final year examinations. Whilst studying, he was also awarded a Gibbs Prize for best group performance in a project that designed a high-speed carbon fiber flywheel for use in a hybrid bus. In his final year, Jonny took over a long-term project to develop a supersonic calibration facility for multi-hole air probes used in turbo-machinery flow measurements, and brought the facility to the stage where the first calibration data could be collected.

When he is not working, Jonny enjoys cycling, hiking up mountains with his slightly overexcited dog, and exploring new places.

Qualifications

  • MEng (University of Oxford)
  • European Patent Attorney
  • Chartered Patent Attorney
  • CertIP Certificate in Intellectual Property Law
  • UPC Representative