Freya Hine and Ben Jones are the latest members of the AdamsonJones team to pass the European qualifying examinations (EQE) for patent attorneys, bringing the firm’s total number of qualified European Patent Attorneys into double figures for the first time since the business was founded in 2000.
The EQE took place in March this year and is made up of four written exams, taken over three days and each lasting between three and five hours, and is run by the European Patent Office and held simultaneously at venues around Europe.
The route to becoming a European Patent Attorney is particularly rigorous and all candidates must first have a suitable qualification, such as a university degree in science or technology, followed by at least 3 years’ hands-on experience of patent work. Even with these requirements, the EQE remains a significant challenge, with typically less than 40% of candidates successfully qualifying each year.
Ben graduated from Durham University with a MSci (Hons) in Natural Sciences and Freya has a PhD in Bioinorganic Chemistry from the University of Nottingham, before joining AdamsonJones in October 2012 as patent assistants. Both Freya and Ben have trained from the outset at the firm’s office in BioCity Nottingham and now help to bolster the intellectual property (IP) profession in the East Midlands.
Simon Cooper, managing director, “Ben and Freya have done exceptionally well to have qualified as UK and European Patent Attorneys in less than 4 years, passing all of their exams first time round. With the increasing awareness of IP in industry, it is great to see the next generation of patent attorneys rising to the challenge.”
Ben said “I’m looking forward to taking on more responsibility for cases and handling the more independent client work of a qualified attorney.”
