Rob O'Callaghan
Partner
LinkedIn Profile
Recommended in the Legal 500, Rob is known for his “wonderful advice and understanding”. Rob’s specialist technical background is in signal-processing and computer vision. He was working in pattern recognition and machine learning long before the current fashion for “Artificial Intelligence” (AI).
Nowadays, he has broader experience right across the fields of software, electronics and mechanical engineering. This includes several diverse areas of focus, from medical devices to Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), and from X-ray analysis to Internet-of-Things (IoT) inventions.
In his research career, prior to becoming a patent attorney, Rob was actively involved in international standardisation, through the ISO/IEC’s “MPEG” working group. This background gives him a special understanding of the relationship between intellectual property and technical standards.
Much of Rob’s time is spent advising on contentious work – mainly opposing and defending patents in opposition and appeal proceedings before the European Patent Office. He also has an active practice drafting and prosecuting patent applications, for clients ranging from startups and university spinouts to multinational corporations. With his extensive experience in opposition proceedings, he understands how to draft and prosecute so that his clients' patents are as robust as possible to future challenge.
Rob joined the patent profession in 2007. When he qualified as a Patent Attorney in 2010, he was awarded the Strode Prize for the highest mark in Paper P2 (Patent Agents’ Practice) of the UK examinations. He now tutors candidates preparing to take the Opposition Paper (Paper C) of the European Qualifying Examination (EQE).
Education
Ph.D. - Image Processing - University of Bristol
B.Eng. - Electrical and Electronic Engineering - University College Cork, Ireland