Potter Clarkson

Firm overview:

A reliable choice for UK patent matters, Potter Clarkson has a 200-strong team operating from offices in the UK, Sweden and Denmark. At the beginning of 2024 the firm opened an office in Glasgow, aiming to build on its existing Scottish client roster as well as expand into a range of sectors including space, energy and cleantech, industrial biotechnology, manufacturing, and medtech.

The Nottingham-headquartered firm deploys significant scientific and technical expertise to draft, file and prosecute patents for clients in a multitude of industries. Examples of its work include assisting SMEs BG Research and sister company BioGene, innovators in diagnostics technology, with building up a patent portfolio comprising European and UK applications. Other services include patent mapping and landscape, and comprehensive freedom-to-operate searches.

The team is frequently called upon by companies in IP-rich industries to handle proceedings at the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and European Patent Office (EPO). Notable achievements include defending an opposition filed against a patent held by global pharmaceutical companies H Lundbeck and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, related to antidepressant medication vortioxetine (marketed as Brintellix).

Team overview:

Members of the team singled out for their “expertise and value” by a peer are partners Peter Finnie and Mark Kramer, and senior associate Mark Nichols.

Based in London, Finnie works with a long and expanding list of startups, helping them develop and exploit their IP. An expert in IP strategy development, Finnie also has considerable experience before the UKIPO and EPO handling complex cases related to the protection of computer-implemented inventions.

Kramer heads up the firm’s London litigation and licensing team, with a broad practice that encompasses contentious and non-contentious issues around IP rights. Kramer has represented clients before the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, and handled complex, cross-border disputes.

Nichols is an experienced patent litigator who has been involved in multinational pharmaceutical disputes and has led the development of the firm’s AI Hub from the solicitor side.

Nottingham-based Charlotte Crowhurst is “attentive, responsive and a very experienced patent attorney”, says a leading industry professional. Crowhurst specialises in the protection of chemical and healthcare inventions and has extensive experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications, as well as EPO opposition proceedings.

Key matters:

• CRISPR/Cas9 technology dispute—ToolGen

Potter Clarkson represents South Korean company ToolGen, which has sued Vertex Pharmaceuticals and its commercial manufacturing partners in the UK High Court regarding Vertex’s genome editing therapy CASGEVY.

In a lawsuit filed in the High Court of Justice of England & Wales in April 2025, ToolGen alleged infringement of a European patent covering CRISPR/Cas9 technology.

Soon after the EPO granted the patent in September 2024, Vertex and others challenged it in three separate filings between October 2024 and March 2025.

Clients:

BG Research / BioGene, H Lundbeck, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, ToolGen