Our People
Bill Downey B.Sc. (London)
Chartered Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney, Registered Trade Mark Attorney, European Trade Mark and Design Attorney
Bill Downey graduated from University College London in electrical engineering. After leaving university, he spent a period in the hydro-electric department of a papermaking company in Quebec, Canada. Subsequently, Bill returned to London to join a private practice firm of patent attorneys dealing with contentious and non-contentious patent and design matters mainly for a number of global companies covering a wide range of subject matter but with particular reference to electrical, electronic, electro-mechanical and mechanical fields. He joined Wilson Gunn in 1970, qualifying as a Chartered Patent Attorney in 1972. He became a Partner of Wilson Gunn in 1980. Bill is also a European Patent Attorney. In more recent times subject matter dealt with by Bill has included computers and computer related inventions. In addition to extensive experience in the filing and prosecution of patent applications, Bill also has considerable corresponding experience in trade marks, design and copyright matters. He is a Registered Trade Mark Attorney, Member of the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys and a European Trade Mark and Design Attorney. Bill has considerable experience in litigation and other contentious matters before the UK Patent Office, the European Patent Office, the UK Trade Mark Registry and the Community Trade Marks Office, and in other countries. He has lectured in the UK and abroad on intellectual property matters and has had many articles published. He has tutored for the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, the Robert Schuman University of Strasbourg European Patent Attorney Training Course and the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents Patent Administration Course. He is a former Chair of the Northern Branch of the Society for Computers and Law and a former Council Member of that Society.