Industrial & power electronics

Industrial and power electronics provides the infrastructure that underpins modern industry. It encompasses the application of electronics, controls and communications, instrumentation, sensors and computational intelligence for the enhancement of industrial and manufacturing systems and processes.

All manner of sensors and control systems are used to precisely manage machines and processes used in a wide range of industries such as manufacturing, chemical and biological process control, amongst many others. Industrial electronics faces a variety of challenges, often within the same technological sectors. For example, MEMS devices have a wide variety of applications, yet with differing or competing demands. Additionally, aero-mems destined for military applications have stringent performance requirements but are required in low volumes, whereas aero-mems for commercial applications are required in significantly higher volumes at much lower price points.

Power supply and control circuitry is prevalent in every industry, such as automotive, fuel cell, aerospace and power supplies. Precise control of operating conditions in processes is predicated upon precise measurement and generation of input and output signals. Furthermore, with growth in renewable energy sources, such as wind and hydro power, technologies to support electrical power transmission are evolving.

HGF’s specialist attorneys possess comprehensive academic and commercial experience in patent drafting and prosecution for industrial and power electronics clients, covering the extensive number of industries underpinned by developments in this field.

Latest updates

European Innovation Remains Strong: The EPO Patent Index 2024

The Patent Index 2024, recently published by the European Patent Office (EPO), provides a rich dataset from which key patent trends can be identified. The data shows that demand for …

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A £2.1M Lesson: The Power of Confidential Information

A recent High Court ruling1 serves as a stark reminder of the importance of respecting confidential business information. Hambro Perks, was found guilty of breaching confidentiality and ordered to pay …

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Can intellectual property and foreign investment save struggling European eVTOL companies?

With the ongoing funding difficulties in the European eVTOL sector, we look at the role that intellectual property is likely to play in the prospects for the survival of Lilium …

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Can the Chancellor’s so-called “Europe’s Silicon Valley” really replicate the innovative activity of its namesake?

The Chancellor of the UK, Rachel Reeves, recently unveiled plans to deliver an Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor that promises to boost the UK economy by up to £78 billion by 2035.  …

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Tea with ASTP: Patenting Clls at the EPO

HGF Partner Matt Cassie will be presenting a webinar on ‘patenting AI to the ASTP (the Association of European Science and Technology Transfer Professionals)’ on 11th February. This talk explores …

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UK IPO Update to AI Patenting Guidelines Highlights Difficulties in Protecting Core AI Inventions

The release by a Chinese company, DeepSeek, of a new open-source reasoning model, has led to falls of hundreds of billions of dollars in US technology stocks including at one …

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Court of Appeal Decision Upholds Invalidity of Patent Due to Amendment Identifying Embodiment as Outside the Scope of the Claims

In a case that highlights the challenges arising due to post-grant amendments, and in particular interpretation of the claims in view of the description, the Court of Appeal in Ensygnia …

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UPC first FRAND judgment results in injunction against OPPO

Panasonic Holdings Corporation v Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp. Ltd & anor UPC_CFI_210/2023 – Mannheim Local Division (Tochtermann, Böttcher, Brinkman & Loibner) – 22 November 2024. The UPC issued its …

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If you would like to discuss how HGF could help you, contact one of our industrial & power electronics specialists.