Hands studying a patent specification

Patents & inventions

File what you can defend. Keep what you can afford.

A UK patent is a 20-year bargain with the public, administered by the Intellectual Property Office under the Patents Act 1977. We design the family, the timing and the spend so the bargain still makes commercial sense in year eight.

How a programme actually runs

We start with what you sell, what you will sell in three years, and who is already on the register. From there we recommend UK first-filing, a PCT, a European application, or a deliberate decision not to file — including where software and business methods collide with the excluded-subject-matter rules in section 1(2).

Prosecution is coordinated with registered patent attorneys for reserved activities. Curiterealm owns the calendar, the inventor interviews, the prior-art watch, the cost forecast, and the conversation with the board when a claim set should be narrowed rather than fought.

From 1 April 2026, UKIPO patent official fees rose by around a quarter (search, for example, moving from £150 to £200). We re-forecast every live family against the new table so renewal conversations use this year's numbers.

Freedom to operate

Landscape searches against UK, EP and selected PCT publications before tooling is committed. We report blocking claims in product language, not only IPC codes.

Employee inventions

Contracts, lab-notebook practice and section 40 compensation awareness, so a departure does not walk out with the only enabling disclosure.

PCT, EPO and the UPC

The United Kingdom is not in the Unified Patent Court. European patents designating the UK are still national rights here. We plan validation and opt-out questions accordingly.

Renewals and pruning

Annual keep-or-drop reviews against product status. Letting a dead family lapse is a decision, not an accident, and we record the rationale.