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The Medical Device specialist practice group, headed by James Gray, is focused on assisting clients with the protection and enforcement of IP in this constantly evolving sector.

Our expertise includes securing patent protection for medical device inventions and, where appropriate, protecting the appearance of such devices by design registration and registering Trade Marks for device product names.

Our expertise

The term ‘medical device' covers devices developed for use in a diverse range of diagnostic and therapeutic disciplines. This is reflected in the technical backgrounds of our group members.

The first degrees of the group members encompass areas such as Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Medical and Veterinary Medicine and Genetics. Two members of the group have doctorates. One member of the group has experience as a Patent Examiner at the UK Intellectual Property Office prior to entering the Patent Attorney profession, while another has worked as an in-house attorney for a multi-national producer of medical equipment.

Our experience

Collectively the group has experience in protecting inventions in such fields as foetal monitoring, dental implants, ultrasonic and microwave imaging apparatus, endoscopy devices, soft tissue surgical tools, stent manufacture, pharmaceutical packaging and container closures, and limb prostheses. Our group Trade Mark specialist has experience in advising clients in such fields as electro-surgical devices, dental technology and dermatology.

Our clients range from individuals to multinational corporations and include University research departments and spin out companies.

Wider perspectives

The industry bodies to which group members belong or associate with include MediWales, MidTECH - NHS, Medilink West Midlands and the Medical Innovation Forum. Such interaction brings valuable insight into various sector trends, legislative change and technological developments in general which we are then able to share with our clients.

Group members

Michael Blatchford - has worked for many years in the field of electrosurgical devices, both for minimally invasive procedures and for skin treatment, with particular emphasis on the control and delivery of radio-frequency energy to electrosurgical devices. Limb prostheses and orthoses represent another area of his specialisation.

Adrian Chettle - has worked for five years as in-house patent attorney for a US multi-national producer of medical equipment, including medical injection apparatus, infusion pumps, implants, foetal monitors and the like. He continues to represent clients in this area.

Tania Clark - has experience in advising clients in the fields of electrosurgical devices, dental technology, limb prostheses and orthoses, and dermatology on trade mark and brand protection issues

Dr. David Elsy - has worked in the medical device field for nearly 20 years, both as a Patent Examiner and for the last 15 years with Withers & Rogers. The areas in which David has experience include pregnancy test kits, stents, DNA- and immuno-diagnostics for cancers and other diseases, biosensors and sanitary wear.

James Gray - heads the Withers & Rogers LLP Medical Device specialist practice group and has experience in prosecuting patent applications related to dental implants, wound coverings, patient fluid infusion systems and needle stick injury prevention. He also represents clients in the surgical glove and biomedical electrode connecter fields.

Adrian Tombling - his work in the medical device field includes cell analysis for detecting cancer. The patents are directed to sampling devices and analysis techniques. Adrian also has experience of brachytherapy treatment devices and stents.

Rachel Wallis - predominantly handles work related to spinal or neurosurgical devices. She also has experience in the fields of biopsy devices and soft tissue surgical tools. Rachel's background in Veterinary Medicine provides her with a good knowledge of the relevant anatomy and physiology for a number of the devices and how various surgical procedures are carried out.

Dr. Joanna Westwood - has worked in a variety of medical related fields including those of female sterilisation, stent technology and across a range of contact lens related applications. In addition, Joanna is an active member of Medilink West Midlands regularly giving seminars on the application of Intellectual Property to the medical device sector.

Callum Wardle - has over five years of experience in the area of surgical and emergency devices, including tissue dissectors and chest cavity vents, focusing on the mechanical aspects of such devices. He also has experience of imaging systems, both from the perspective of target location on the patient by microwave & ultrasonic techniques and the imaging apparatus itself.

Howard Wright - has extensive experience of working in the healthcare sector. He has worked for one client in the respiratory drug delivery field for many years. He has also worked on implantable surface acoustic wave sensors, stents, software and control systems for controlling medical equipment and devices which measure characteristics of the body.