Abstract

Intellectual Property (IP) covers various types of legal rights that can help protect a business from competitors. For example, trade marks can help protect a brand, whilst patents can help protect a technology. However, registering and using these rights can involve navigating a complicated legal system. As a result, there are various career opportunities for technically-minded individuals – for example as a patent examiner (working at the patent office) or as a patent attorney or solicitor (working on behalf of an inventor apply for a patent). Particularly when working as a patent attorney or solicitor, the ability to be able to understand and work with very different technology areas is key. Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, with their focus on cross-disciplinary learning, make for a perfect background for entering such professions (or, at least, so thinks the speaker!). Bio – Dan is a patent attorney working at J A Kemp, in London. He was a member of the Chemical Engineering department from 2000 to 2007, first as an undergraduate and then as a PhD student. Despite entering the course from the ‘chemical’ side, Dan’s interests moved more to the ‘engineering’ side of the subject, and he now handles a range of electronic and mechanical patent work, as well as inventions in more traditional chemical engineering and biotech fields. He also has experience of working on secondment as an ‘in-house’ patent attorney for a biotechnology startup.