Tim Gilbert
Qualifications
- European Patent Attorney
- Chartered Patent Attorney
- PhD Engineering
- MEng Civil Engineering
Recommendations
- 2022 Legal 500: “The attention to detail given by Tim Gilbert has been outstanding throughout the last few years”.
- 2021 Legal 500: "Tim Gilbert is extremely customer focused, open to feedback and responsive to requests".
Tim is an IP director with specialisms in both engineering and tech. His main role is to secure patent and registered design protection which meets the business needs of his clients, both in the UK and worldwide. Tim’s clients range from small start-ups to internationally-renowned universities and world-famous companies.
One of Tim’s favourite parts of his role is developing and maintaining strong relationships with clients: he regularly visits clients’ premises in order to discuss cases and discuss important developments in their business (including upcoming products, competitors’ products and market trends). By developing such a deep understanding of clients’ intellectual property and their business contexts, Tim is able to make valuable suggestions to clients about how to manoeuvre their patent applications into more advantageous positions.
Tim’s legal skills extend to complex situations such as infringement, ownership of intellectual property, software patenting, and applying the legal systems of other countries. He can also prepare patent applications that are optimised for up to 10% Corporation Tax reduction using the ‘Patent Box’ scheme. For many companies, this tax reduction is worth a significant amount of money.
Tim handles technology across most of the physical sciences, and in particular:
- cars, automotive products, electric and combustion engines;
- buildings and structures;
- trains and rail infrastructure;
- aerodynamics;
- control systems;
- apps, software, games, UIs, and other computer innovations;
- smart devices, internet of things;
- blockchain, cybersecurity;
- phones, particularly smartphones;
- telecoms standards and telecoms infrastructure;
- VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality);
- machine learning;
- sensing, imaging and photography.
- water and hydraulic systems;
- systems integration;
- energy, such as renewables;
- aero engines, aerospace; and
- simple mechanical or consumer devices.
Tim has a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Birmingham. His thesis is entitled ‘Aerodynamic Effects of High Speed Trains in Confined Spaces’. Testing included firing scale model trains at speeds of up to 200mph past aerodynamic sensors.
Tim also has a first class MEng degree in civil engineering from the University of Birmingham, with the highest mark in the cohort. Focuses included buildings, infrastructure, and mechanical engineering. He worked summers at one of the largest engineering consultancies in the world.
At university, Tim attained seven prestigious awards for his achievements in academia and industry, notably including the 2010 City of Birmingham Queen’s Silver Jubilee Engineering Award, a shortlisting for the 2010 SET (Science Engineering and Technology) Award, and a best academic journal paper award.
Outside of work, Tim enjoys spending time with the family. He enjoys playing guitar, recording music and playing tabletop games with his wife and friends. Tim is also a car enthusiast, the owner of several pets and (when he has time) a keen reader with a particular interest in contemporary fiction and popular science. Tim’s first language is English and he also speaks fluent Finnish.