William has worked on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters, including complex multi-jurisdictional patent litigation, trade mark and copyright disputes, transactional due diligence and freedom to operate analysis.  His experience encompasses diverse technology fields and market sectors, including consumer electronics, medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, branded products and fast-moving consumer goods.

A particular focus of William’s practice has been complex, multi-jurisdictional patent disputes in the life sciences and consumer electronics sectors, often involving both offensive and defensive patent litigation and close co-operation with local counsel across multiple European jurisdictions.

William has also successfully represented several commercial and pro bono clients in disputes over copyright and trade mark infringement and registrations, and he also has in-house experience of trade mark litigation and regulatory matters.

William originally trained as a biochemist, obtaining a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, including one year of study at the University of Montpellier, France, and a DPhil in Molecular Pathology from the University of Oxford following research in the field of immunology, allergies and vaccine design.

William has also published and contributed to legal articles and commentary pieces on a broad range of subjects in several journals and magazines, including Intellectual Property Magazine, IAM and World Trademark Review. He is a contributing author to three reference works in specialist patent-related fields: the Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPC) Handbook (2^nd edition), Methods in Molecular Biology: Vaccine Design Volume 3; and a practitioner’s commentary on the rules of procedure of the Unified Patent Court (forthcoming).

William joined Powell Gilbert in 2017.

Key Cases

• Philip Morris v Nicoventures (heat-not-burn tobacco)
• Garmin v Philips (GPS wearable devices)
• Illumina v Ariosa & Premaitha (non-invasive pre-natal testing)