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Ben Micklewright is a Deputy Director in the Intellectual Property Office’s Tribunal. He has particular responsibility for running the Patents Tribunal and the Opinions service, and sits as an inter partes hearing officer.  Ben’s career at the IPO has spanned over 25 years, joining initially as a patent examiner working in computing technologies following a PhD in physics. He has had a varied career, working in the IPO’s policy and legal teams and leading patent examination teams, including the team responsible for examining patent applications in the computing field. For some years he was in charge of the recruitment of new patent examiners. More recently, Ben led the IPO’s Legal section, which involved, amongst other things, working with the IPO’s Transformation programme in developing new services.

Jonathan is a partner at Beck Greener in London. He joined Beck Greener in 2009, having previously worked in-house for Dyson. His background is in physics, with a PhD in organic LED displays. Jonathan is a contributing author to the CIPA Black Book, the standard reference text for patent attorneys. He is a regular speaker and presenter.

Matthew joined Bristows as an associate in 2012. He specialises in intellectual property litigation with a particular interest in patent litigation in the technology sector.

Matthew has a breadth of experience in handling cases in complex technical areas such as telecommunications, computer hardware and software, virtual reality, inertial navigation, acoustics and electronic lighting. Other significant areas of Matthew’s practice include SEP litigation and FRAND issues, licensing strategy, freedom to operate advice and patent validity analysis. As many of the cases which he works on have an international element to them, Matthew is frequently involved in coordinating litigation before the UK courts with parallel proceedings in Europe, the USA and international patent offices.

Yelena is an experienced patent attorney with technical expertise across different fields of engineering, most particularly in information technology and software, telecommunications, and AI. Being qualified in the US and in Europe, Yelena practices in both jurisdictions, focusing on patent procurement and portfolio development for a diverse range of global clients. Using her knowledge of the different legal approaches employed on both sides of the Atlantic, Yelena provides a pragmatic advice and develops creative solutions enabling businesses to meet their commercial objectives.

Yelena currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and is the Board liaison to the AIPLA international committees. She also is an active member of the Women in IP Group of the IP Inclusive Task Force.