IP specialist goes global

Ernest Kay, the leading intellectual property lawyer, is moving his base from rural Dorset to the City, while establishing a number of European and US alliances.

Sole practitioner Kay, who doubles up as a scientist, will retain his Poole office in Dorset but has been forced to move to London to service what he claims is a growing demand from existing clients in the UK and abroad.

He has also established a base in Nice. "There is a dearth of technological expertise to evaluate the IP rights of hi-tech industry in the region," he says.

LBT Services, a subsidiary company of Nelson Hurst that helps industry to identify IP rights, has also appointed Kay to be its legal and technical director.

Kay now heads a team of 12 lawyers and technologists at LBT Services, including experts in bio-technology, petroleum, electronics, computer software and laser technology.

The team evaluates a company's IP and products, with a view to assessing risk exposure and reducing it where necessary, by insurance.

Kay claims that many companies now have more than 80 per cent of their assets tied up in intangibles, such as patents, trade marks and copyright.

LBT Services has also teamed up with Chicago-based law firm Gardner Carton and Douglas, which will conduct evaluations and risk assessment for it in the US.

Kay's clients also include the Roslin Institute and Neos Robotics in Stockholm - a company that produces robots used by Boeing and Volvo - as well as a number of leading companies in the pharmaceutical and bio-technology spheres.