Mark Lunt
Standards and Regulatory Director and Partner
Mark is an experienced patent professional having qualified as a Patent Attorney in 1981, after training in both private and industrial practices. His current practice focuses on mechanical arrangements, especially tools for use in the oil industry. His scientific training (BSc degree in Oceanography and Zoology, University of Wales, Swansea), is unusual in the profession, but it gave him wide exposure to biological, chemical and physical sciences that have since proved useful background for many of the inventions he has handled.
Mark spent six years with a multi-national power tools manufacturer as their European Patent Manager. This gave him a strong commercial sense of what intellectual property is for, and how it can best be exploited. This was both from the perspective of acquiring and enforcing rights, as well as avoiding infringement of third-party rights.
Now returned to private practice, this wealth of experience is available to all Mark’s clients. They range from private individuals, SMEs and publicly listed companies and universities.
His current fields of technology include oil industry drilling and process apparatus, medical devices, power/hand tools, electric motors, gear trains, automotive - all generally mechanical in nature, but not without the occasional chemical, metallurgical or electrical twists. Medical device inventions and related methods of diagnosis and treatment often involve an interdisciplinary approach, requiring a combination of different scientific, medical and engineering skills.
Mark joined HGF as a Partner in their Sheffield office in 2000. Although now specialised in patents, Mark has handled all areas of IP, including trade marks.
Mark is a member of the firm's Board of Directors and is the firm's Head of Legal Practice, being responsible for our professional standards and regulatory compliance. He is Chair of our Professional Practice Committee and our Conflict Committee.
Quote:
You seem to have a PhD level understanding of fluid dynamics!”