Jonathan Ball
Partner
Jonathan Ball is an intellectual property lawyer based in London. He handles the full range of contentious intellectual property matters, including patents, trade marks, copyright, designs and confidential information.
Jonathan has particular experience of handling major patent litigation, often multi-jurisdictional, in various industry sectors, including pharmaceuticals/life sciences, engineering and electronics. Representative cases include: Koninklijke Philips, France Telecom and ors v SanDisk Corp (mp3 patents); Qual-Chem v Corus (steel-making); Baxter Healthcare v Abbott Laboratories (sevoflurane); Lilly Icos v Pfizer (2nd medical use for PDE inhibitors, including Viagra).
Jonathan also advises on contentious IT matters, and handles mediations and arbitrations in relation to complex claims in the technology and other sectors. He advises on patent and technology licensing and related transactional matters, and on research and other collaborations particularly in the life sciences sector. He also advises pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in relation to pharmaceutical regulatory law.
Chambers and Partners UK 2011 comments that Jonathan is “an excellent strategist who can see the wider picture and is great at explaining complicated issues in an accessible way”. He is praised in Legal 500 UK 2011 for being “practical and efficient” and for his ability to manage “complex problems calmly and efficiently”.
Jonathan has a first degree in biochemistry and worked as a biochemist prior to becoming a lawyer. He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys. He writes regularly for legal and industry journals and speaks at conferences on intellectual property and industry matters. Jonathan also lectures on the University of London Queen Mary IP Research Institute MSc in Management of Intellectual Property, and tutors on the University of Oxford Post Graduate Diploma in IP Law and Practice.
Recent publications include “High Court upholds UK’s strict approach on Paediatric Extensions to SPC’s”, J Ball and E Barnett, Bio-Science Law Review, vol. 10, issue 2, August 2009; “Statutory Compensation for Employees’ Inventions: Are the Floodgates Open?”, J Ball and A Jones, Bloomberg European Law Journal, vol. 3, no. 5, May 2009; “Trading online: a Practical Guide for Insolvency Practitioners”, J Ball and J Conway, Corporate Rescue and Insolvency, vol 2.1, February 2009; and “Extension Granted: Gilead Obtains its SPC for Combination Antiretrovirals”, J Ball, Bio-Science Law Review, vol 9, issue 5, November 2008.