Alex Gittins

Dispute Resolution Expertise

Alex is part of a revered team at Dehns and is a representative before the Unified Patent Court, having an in-depth knowledge of the opposition and appeal procedure, and acts as lead advocate for roughly 10-20 opposition and appeal hearings each year.  He has dealt with many of the more complex issues, including the filing of expert opinion and evidence.  His practice has recently focused on power systems engineering, and working primarily with Raytheon Technologies Corporation to both defend and attack patents in this field.  He also has a large amount of experience in the fields of personal care products (acting for Kimberly-Clark) and mass spectrometry (Waters).

In one notable example, Alex was tasked with ensuring revocation of a competitor’s patent using a product sold in Costa Rica 10 years previously.  This involved dealing with various members of the legal team in different countries to gather the evidence required to prove publication by public prior use.  This included evidence of technical drawings, production details, television/magazine adverts, invoices, and statements from various people involved.  In a move that proved crucial, he managed to lower the standard of proof from ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ to the ‘balance of probabilities’ by noting the product in question was mass produced (based on T0055/01).  As a result the patent was revoked.

Alex’s opposition practice is typically of an international nature, with the majority of cases in the last 10 years including the co-ordination of legal counsel in multiple jurisdictions, most notably Europe and the United States.  He has been recognised as a ‘key lawyer’ in the Legal 500.