Anne-Marie Conn

Professional Qualifications
European Patent Attorney
Chartered UK Patent Attorney

As a European and Chartered UK Patent Attorney, Anne-Marie is able to represent clients in matters before the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC).

Academic Qualifications
M.Chem. Chemistry, University of Oxford

Scientific Background
Anne-Marie's research during the final year of her M. Chem. focused on the synthesis of aluminium complexes in the +1 oxidation state and explored the formation of novel aluminium-element bonds for small molecule activation. See, e.g., Probing the Extremes of Covalency in M−Al bonds: Lithium and Zinc Aluminyl Compounds, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2021, 60, 22301-22306.

Experience
Anne-Marie works with a range of client types, from start-ups to multinationals. She helps clients develop bespoke patent strategies and make their IP work for them. Key subject areas for Anne-Marie include:

• Pharma, medical tech and consumer healthcare
• Biotech, including drug delivery
• Textiles and foams
• Chemical engineering, including recycling

Pharma, medical tech and consumer healthcare
Anne-Marie’s drafting, prosecution, opposition and FTO work covers a range of pharmaceutical inventions. She has over the years garnered much experience of medical use inventions (in Europe and similar jurisdictions) and medical method inventions (in the U.S), involving the prophylaxis of and treatments for conditions from immune disorders to neuropathy. She has a further focus on biomarkers for differentiating patient groups. Anne-Marie has also handled and continues to handle a number of consumer healthcare inventions, including contact lenses, storage/dosage devices, and cosmetic products.

Biotech including drug delivery
Meanwhile, Anne-Marie has considerable experience in the field of drug delivery products, most notably nanoparticulate systems (incorporating lipids and inorganic materials). These include vehicles for the delivery of certain fragile proteins and nucleic acids. In this area, Anne-Marie drafts and prosecutes patent applications, manages portfolios spanning multiple jurisdictions (with a particular emphasis on the US, Japan and China) and advises on freedom to operate.

Textiles
An area of interest for Anne-Marie, her work in the textiles field ranges from early-stage fibre processing to finishing operations and articles incorporating textiles, as well as complementary materials such as films and foams. Anne-Marie is a mentor at the Amsterdam-based textiles scale-up incubator, Fashion for Good. She also attends the US-based TechTextil conference. She has expertise in the prosecution of “green” textile inventions, particularly those relating to the recycling of consumer products with short life spans.

Chemical engineering
Anne-Marie is experienced in drafting and prosecuting patent applications in the chemical engineering sector more generally. For example, she particularly enjoys work concerning recycling plants, such as those which process consumer-generated waste.

Anne-Marie writes on legal matters such as International Preliminary Examination; protecting medical inventions in Europe; how to make the most of invention disclosure forms; trade secrets in the textiles sector; the importance of synergistic effects in “combination” inventions; and the problem-solution approach to inventive step at the EPO (with a note on the approach being taken by the new Unified Patent Court).