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Richard Abel

Senior Associate
UK & European Patent Attorney
UPC Representative

Based in Birmingham

Tel: +44 (0)121 456 0076

Overview

Richard works for a diverse range of clients from individual inventors and start-ups, through to SMEs, universities and large corporations. He has experience of working on the prosecution of patent applications covering a variety of different inventions in the technology, aerospace and telecommunications sectors. This includes applications relating to internet and computing technologies, as well as aerospace engineering, medical devices and a variety of other mechanical inventions.

Experience

  • Worked with a new start-up company at the very early stage of product development that had no experience of the patent process. I helped guide them through the patent process; including preparing and filing a patent application which helped achieve investment and interest from licensees
  • Assisted with prosecution of complex Standards related applications for BlackBerry in the field of video encoding. Including attending a hearing at the EPO at which we successfully achieved grant of claims mapping on to the relevant standard
  • Advised on the scope of a client’s competitor’s patent protection to give the client confidence when launching an important new product

“As patent novices we had the technology and ideas but no understanding of how to protect them. Barker Brettell and Richard showed us the process, helped us understand how we could create value from it, and guided us into securing and protecting our knowledge. Richard gave us plain speaking to balance the ‘legalese’ and was always on hand to answer a question or to steer us in the right direction. We continue to rely on his expertise to such an extent that we now consider his input on patents as part of our new product process.”

Expertise

  • China
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Patent Drafting and Prosecution
  • Patent Portfolio Planning & Management
  • Patents
  • Physics & Materials
  • Unitary Patent

Sectors

  • Aerospace
  • Computing, AI & Software
  • MedTech

Technical Specialisms

  • Computers and electronics

Credentials

  • CPA
  • EPA
  • UPC Representative
  • MSci (Hons) Physics
  • PhD Atomic and Molecular Physics

Education

  • University of Durham

Insights from Richard…

EPO and CNIPA announce Patent Prosecution Highway agreement
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July 30, 2026

EPO and CNIPA announce Patent Prosecution Highway agreement

Can an AI be an inventor?
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Can an AI be an inventor?

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