Frances Wilding

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT FRANCES WILDING

I lead client-focussed teams at HLK, working closely with industry on major new products and technologies, including patent portfolio creation and management and responsibility for freedom to operate. My extensive experience across a broad range of subject matter allows me to work together with clients from many different technical areas, who are now looking to protect software and AI inventions for their business. I have built up significant experience in drafting and prosecuting Machine Learning and other algorithm/software patent applications worldwide, but primarily in Europe and the US, focussing on Bioinformatics, CNNs/Deep Learning, simulations, data centres, cloud and Internet of Things inventions and business-related software. I started my career as a Patent Examiner at the European Patent Office in Munich, where I spent 8 years working in English, French and German on examination and opposition of European applications and PCT examination. My technical fields included manufacturing cells and conveyor systems, circuit protection, packaging machinery and valve and dispensing technology. I then transferred to private practice in York in the UK, working in the fields of medical implants, telecommunications, geo-synthetics, earth compaction and surfacing, and a variety of electro-mechanical devices. At HLK, I am now based in London and continue to work in a broad variety of technical fields, including consumer goods, mobile telecommunications, healthcare, medical and display technology, bioinformatics, user interfaces, simulation systems, data centres and business and internet-based inventions. I have many years of experience in European prosecution of computer-related inventions and especially AI. My client base includes UK SMEs and corporations, Universities, large direct Japanese, US and German clients, and agent work for French, German, US and Japanese applicants. I relish the commercial aspects of client advice, including portfolio management and due diligence projects. I also undertake advisory projects and infringement opinion work for clients including Japanese, UK and US law firms. I am a keen and frequent visitor to Japan, regularly presenting European patent law and AI at webinars and at our large-scale seminars in Tokyo and Osaka. I also make client visits and seminar trips in Continental Europe, particularly in France and Germany and travel regularly to the United States.