May 19, 2020
With combined 120 years of experience in the IPR industry, Kolster’s chemistry and biotechnology team is a veteran of international assignments. The team reads scientific research as its native language and achieves the best end result in cooperation with the client. Chemistry team leader and European Patent Attorney Krister Karlsson explains what makes our team special.
The protection of interdisciplinary inventions in the field of chemistry requires solid experience, commercial vision and consideration of the country-specific particularities of international applications. Kolster’s nine-person biotechnology and chemistry team has all of that – and more.
“Our diverse and interdisciplinary background ensures that we understand the needs of any client. Our team’s special expertise includes organic and analytical chemistry, pharmaceutical and polymer chemistry, biotechnology and microbiology”, says the team’s leader and European Patent Attorney Krister Karlsson.
These three qualities form a strong team that protects the client’s innovations regardless of the assignment:
The team members have a long-standing attorney background, and some have more than 20 years of experience in the industry. Work experience in, for example, research institutes, companies’ product development, and as an in-house IPR expert and patent attorney is a significant advantage.
“In addition, I have several years of experience as a technical judge of the Market Court in appeal and dispute cases concerning patents and utility models. Our diverse experience gives us the ability to stand in our client’s shoes”, Karlsson says.
Due to the complexity of inventions in the field of chemistry, an attorney must have a strong understanding of scientific research and the interpretation of experimental findings.
“For us, reading scientific results is a native language.”
All the team members have a higher education background in, for example, organic chemistry, technical chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, biochemistry, polymer chemistry, or molecular biology. Five of the nine team members hold doctoral degrees.
“In addition to natural sciences, the group also has a strong commercial vision. That is why we know how to protect inventions so that they are of use in a business sense. The consideration of IPR strategies is aided by the work experience of many of the team members as an in-house attorney.”
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Strong competence in the fields of chemistry, biotechnology and microbiology ensures that the patent attorney team also has a smooth command of areas such as medical applications, analytical, food and technical chemistry as well as, for example, polymers and nanotechnology on the materials side.
“Many of our clients’ inventions also relate to environmental technology and clean-tech applications. Our area of expertise is interdisciplinary, as are our clients’ inventions. Attorney work involves continuous learning among new inventions. As a result, we are well-trained in learning and adopting new technology and knowledge”, Karlsson says.
Drafting patent applications as well as prosecuting official action phases are core competences of every attorney. It takes years to gain enough experience.
“Our team has world-class competence and extensive experience in opposition and appeal matters as well as oral proceedings at the European Patent Office (EPO)”, Karlsson says.
Obtaining the best and most comprehensive protection for chemistry inventions is not unambiguous.
“Consequently, our team has developed an excellent problem-solving capability that extends from individual applications to IPR strategies.”
A large proportion of patent applications in the field are filed internationally and with a wide scope. When applications are filed in many countries, the attorney must have a strong view of what kind of an application will be successful. A skilfully crafted application takes into account, among other things, country-specific particularities and adequacy of experimental data.
“Because our team handles more international applications than average, our international experience is unique. In this we are also aided by Kolster’s strong and experienced team of IPR specialists and administrators, who smoothly keep in touch with any corner of the world”, Karlsson says.
Many of the group’s members have lived and worked abroad, such as in Germany, England, South Korea, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria. The team also includes two attorneys with decades of experience in the IPR industry in Germany. Alongside Finnish and German, the team provides services in English and Swedish as well.
“In addition to Europe, the United States and China, patent application target countries familiar to us include Japan, South Korea and many countries in Asia and South America.”
The chemistry and biotechnology team is also supported by Kolster China Desk™ and Kolster Russia Desk™ serving our clients in Chinese and Russian.
Krister Karlsson
Associate Partner, Head of Biotech & Chemistry, European Patent Attorney
krister.karlsson@kolster.com
+358 44 236 5676
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