Dr. Mike Barlow is a consultant with ipVA and specialises in IP strategy and IP due diligence. He works primarily in the areas of Chemical, clean energy, and oil and gas exploration, production, and refining industries. Mike is a qualified UK and European patent attorney and has an MA and D.Phil from the University of Oxford in Chemistry.

From 1995 to the end 2008, Mike was Head of BP International’s Global Patents and Technology Law group in which role he led BP’s patenting activity and the IP due diligence and contract negotiations around all of its significant commercial transactions in the period including the mergers or acquisitions of Amoco, Arco, Burmah Castrol and Veba Oil and the divestiture of BP’s $8bn commodity petrochemicals business to Ineos.  He is a past President of the IP Federation (the UK’s principal Industry IP body) and is currently a Vice President and Chair of its Patents Committee.  Until recently he was Chair of the European Chemical Industry’s IP Task Force and a Council member of The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys in the UK.  Mike was a co-author of the 2003 Royal Society study on the effect of IP on science and continues to advise the UK government on patent policy both nationally and internationally.

Mike has been involved in IP due diligence and technology transfer for over twenty years and currently chairs the UK Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) Business to Business committee taking forward the technology transfer recommendations of the 2006 Gowers review.  He is a co-author of the UK IPO’s book ‘What Licensing can do for your Business’ launched at the end of 2008 and is currently involved the development of the IPO’s on-line IP valuation and management tool.  He is also a co-author of the IPO’s forthcoming book on valuing intellectual property

In 2007 Mike led the cross-industry team which created the IP business model which underpins the Energy Technology Institute (ETI) a £1bn partnership between the UK Government and a consortium of six of Europe’s largest energy and engineering companies.  He has lectured frequently on creating and extracting value from the intellectual assets associated with new technologies.  Since retiring from BP in January 2009, Mike has been advising small companies on how to value and exploit their IP.  He remains a consultant to BP’s clean energy business division (Alternative Energy) and its associated venturing activities.

In 2010 Mike significant achievements were recognised and he was awarded and OBE for his services to Intellectual Property.

Contact: London Office

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