David Akerman
Trainee Patent Attorney
David joined HGF in July 2019 as a part-qualified Trainee Patent Attorney in the Engineering Group in the Newcastle office. Before joining HGF, David gained 20 years' IP management experience through in-house roles in textile and consumer-goods companies making significant investment in innovation.
David’s IP experience includes undertaking freedom to operate searches, patent licensing, and developing IP strategies. He has also had involvement in IP due diligence in company and asset purchase projects.
In his in-house roles, David had significant involvement in contentious IP matters in Europe, USA and Japan, including patents, designs, trade dress, breach of confidence and know how.
After graduating from the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology with an honours degree in Chemistry David stayed on to undertake a PhD in Textile Chemistry. His research investigated the mechanism of oxidative bleaching of dyed cotton substrates during domestic laundering. The project was funded by industry and led to the publication of a patent application and three academic papers.