Top 10 patent firm opens in Yorkshire

PATENT and trade mark firm Withers & Rogers has expanded its business by opening an office in Sheffield to improve service to its growing client base in the region. 

Patent attorneys and partners Paul Foot and David McWilliams will be heading up the new office, the firm’s fourth in the UK. 

The firm, which already advises well-known companies such as Airbus, Petronas, and Microsoft, has opened the office at the landmark Electric Works on the Sheffield Digital Campus. 

Mr Foot said: “The region is a vibrant hub of innovation, and sustained regional economic development is supporting growth in sectors such as sustainable energy, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, medical devices and digital and new media industries. 

“We are already working with more than 100 clients and contacts in the area and we aim to build on this by providing businesses operating within these diverse sectors with effective, commercially appropriate and timely advice on all intellectual property matters.”

Mr McWilliams and Mr Foot, who both grew up in the region, are returning from Leamington Spa where the firm’s Midlands office is based. 

They will also be supported by the firm’s trade mark and patent experts in its Midlands, Bristol and London offices. 

Adrian Chettle, chairman at Withers & Rogers, said: “We are pleased to be expanding the firm and establishing a permanent base in the North of England. 

“In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever for companies to take steps to protect their intellectual property, as failure to do so potentially exposes the business to greater competition. 

By being closer to our businesses, we are more strategically placed to react to regional, as well as national, IP issues affecting our clients.”