Neil Campbell

Background

Neil is a European and UK Chartered Patent Attorney. He graduated with a First Class Honours Degree from the University of Oxford, in Natural Sciences (Chemistry). His degree included a year of research in sugar chemistry. He joined Dehns in 1995, was made a Partner in 2003, and handles patent work in a wide range of chemical fields.

Type of clients and client work

Neil handles patent work for a variety of clients, from sole-inventors and small start-up companies to large multinational corporations. He provides patent drafting, filing, international prosecution and strategic IP portfolio advice. He is also a regular traveller to Munich and the Hague where he represents his clients before the opposition division and appeal board at the EPO. Neil regularly handles 10 to 15 such hearings every year.

Expertise

Neil handles work in various technical fields, with particular expertise in Polymer Chemistry, especially in polyethylene and polypropylene manufacture and formulation. He also has considerable experience in the drafting and prosecution of pharmaceutical patents. Other fields in which Neil works include: marine paints, chewing gum, graphene and nutraceuticals.

Below is a selection of  opposition cases that Neil has worked on for just one client in 2025:

• 3286233 – Neil helped revoke a competitor patent about comonomer distribution in ethylene copolymers
• 2970644 – Neil helped revoke a competitor patent about ethylene copolymers for film applications
• G1/23 – Neil presented to the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal, successfully representing the client in this ground-breaking, game-changing case
• 3293212 – Neil helped revoke a competitor patent about multimodal ethylene copolymers for moulding applications
• 3390049 – Neil helped maintain a patent relating to ethylene copolymers for film applications
• 2626911 – Following on from G1/23, Neil helped revoke a competitor patent about ethylene copolymers for solar cells
• 2833415 – Following on from G1/23, Neil ensured that a competitor’s Appeal was dismissed on a patent about ethylene copolymers for solar cells
• 3545034 – Following on from G1/23, Neil helped limit a competitor patent about ethylene copolymers for solar cells
• 3601385 – Neil helped ensure that a patent was maintained unamended

Qualifications and Memberships

• Authorised Representative before the Unified Patent Court (UPC) 2024
• UK Chartered Patent Attorney, 1999
• European Patent Attorney, 1999
• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
• Member of the European Patent Institute

Higher Education

BA (First Class) University of Oxford, Natural Sciences (Chemistry), 1995

Certificate in IP Law, University of London, 1996

Other

Neil successfully represented Borealis in the game-changing and high profile EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal case G1/23. The G1/23 decision, announced in July 2025, has a major impact on what the EPO will consider as “Prior Art” going forward. For further information, please refer to the relevant article in the Articles section below.

Neil was named as a “Recommended Individual” for Chemistry, in the 2025 edition of the JUVE Patent UK Rankings. 

Neil was recognised as a “Patent Star” in the 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 editions of Managing Intellectual Property’s IP Stars directory.

In October 2025, Neil and Dehns Associate Matthew Sullivan wrote a comparative analysis of the ground-breaking G1/23 case, collaborating with overseas patent experts to gain a global perspective of the main issues and implications. Click here to read the article.