UK patent and trademark firm opens Bristol office as it targets ‘significant’ South West opportunities

The business also has a presence in Edinburgh and Liverpool

A patent and trade mark firm with offices in Edinburgh and Liverpool has opened a new base in Bristol as part of plans to target the South West. Hindles said the region was an “absolute powerhouse of innovation” and held “significant opportunities” for the business.

The Bristol office is headed up by Chris Cottingham, a director at Hindles and a UK and European patent attorney. He said the launch of the new city base would place Hindles “at the heart of the UK’s premier deep-tech ecosystem outside the Golden Triangle of Cambridge, Oxford and London”.

“Bristol and the wider South West region are an absolute powerhouse of innovation, fuelled by world-class universities and R&D, startups, and globally renowned companies across a series of strategically important sectors, and it’s a perfect home for our third UK office,” he said.

“And when you look at the city and region’s fast-growing credentials in AI, we see significant opportunities to support some of the most exciting players here.”

Mr Cottingham said deep-tech innovation the South West was “excelling”, driven in part by new start-up and spinout companies as well as new incubators, such as the recently launched OMX deep-tech lab facility.

“This is leading to a significant increase in local patent filings with the number of international patent applications from Bristol-based applicants having doubled in the last decade, compared with only a modest five per cent increase in international patent applications UK-wide,” he said.

Hindles, which was founded in 2004, advises organisations including start-ups, scale-ups, spinouts, universities, listed companies and global corporations on establishing and protecting their intellectual property. The firm’s clients based or operating in the region include Par-Pak Europe and Holfeld Plastics, who recently divested from US parent company Novolex, and Cornwall-headquartered Topan Group.

As well as its UK offices, Hindles also has a presence in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East through a network of international associates.

Alistair Hindle, Hindles’s founding director and a chartered and European patent and trade market attorney, added: “Hindles has always been about high quality, commercially-focused IP advice, underpinned by a team of legal experts and sector specialists dedicated to protecting our clients’ core technologies.

“We are already advising firms in Bristol and the surrounding region and it’s great to have Chris in place to guide our next phase of growth across the South West.”