Patent Counsel

About Haleon

Haleon is a world-leading consumer health company with a clear purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity. Our leading brands are built on science, innovation and human understanding and are trusted by millions of consumers globally. Haleon has a strong portfolio of brands and is well positioned to play a vital role for people all around the world, in a sector that is growing and more relevant than ever. The definition of consumer healthcare varies across competitors and industry data sources. We define it as consisting of Oral Health, VMS and Over-the-Counter (OTC). Within OTC, Haleon's portfolio comprises of Pain, Respiratory, Digestive and Other.

For more information, please visit www.haleon.com.

We are looking for an experienced and proactive Patent Counsel to join our Intellectual Property (IP) team, based in London.

About The Role
The Patent Counsel will report to the Head of Patents and will primarily provide patent and related IP support to Haleon stakeholders.

Responsibilities
In addition to providing global patent and related counselling and advice to the R&D scientists, legal, business, and commercial teams, the Patent counsel will be:

• Responsible for IP matters relating to invention harvesting, patent drafting, prosecution and enforcement, freedom-to-operate and competitive landscape analyses, patent validity, infringement matters, IP risk management, opposition and appeal cases for a set of global brands.

• Supporting complex patent and patent related projects

• Handling IP related aspects of contractual agreements with external partners.

• Supporting IP due diligence projects i.e. M&A, and litigation.

Who You’ll Work With

As a Patent Counsel at HALEON, you will join a team who reports directly to the Head of IP. Your role involves close interaction with other IP group professionals located around the globe, including brand rights attorneys and patent and trademark formality staff.  You will also be in close contact with R&D scientists, legal experts, and other business stakeholders. Additionally, you'll build strong relationships with external partners. Haleon is a global business and you will be expected to interact with colleagues all over the world.

What You’ll Do

• Invention harvesting within Haleon’s global R&D teams.

• Prepare and file registered designs to protect the visual appearance of Haleon’s products.

• Manage all aspects of a given global IP portfolio, including conducting drafting and prosecution work, and providing IP advisory service to the R&D and business units.

• Support, devise and implement IP strategy for new products on a global level.

• Establish, negotiate and provide counselling on all IP aspects for a wide variety of transactional matters: R&D agreements, licensing agreements, business acquisitions and divestments, confidentiality agreements, etc.

• Participate in oppositions, oral hearings and appeals.

• Provide patent validity, and infringement advice to R&D and the relevant business units.

• Support and promote IP awareness within Haleon’s global R&D community and business teams.

• Manage relationships and work extensively with external counsel – where required.

• Participate in a variety of departmental activities, including meetings, aimed at key information-sharing, general case law awareness and discussion of departmental practices and policies.

Interested?

For this role we’re looking for candidates with the following:

• A STEM degree

• Fully qualified European Patent Attorney

• Fully qualified UK Patent Attorney/ or national equivalent.

• Minimum of 2 years’ PQE, working within an in-house IP department or a reputable private practice firm supporting chemistry, FMCG and/or life science clients.

• Experience in-house is a plus but not a requirement.

• Commercial understanding and business acumen are required to utilise Haleon’s IP to give competitive advantage.

Location

Central London/Weybridge/hybrid

Are you ready to:

Go beyond – At Haleon our constant hunger and irresistible energy drives us to be better, move with pace and outperform competitors.

Do what matters most – We prioritise the important and challenge the unnecessary.

Keep it human – Our dedication to consumers, customers and each other demands unmatched understanding and empathy.

Why work with us?

It’s important to us that Haleon is a place where all our employees feel they truly belong and can bring their whole, authentic selves to work, every day.  We are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace, and view this as key to achieving our purpose: to deliver better everyday health with humanity. As part of our responsible business strategy, we are dedicated to ensuring our business reflects the diversity of the consumer and communities who rely on our products every day. We recognise that a global business like ours needs to represent and embrace diverse views and experiences from all walks of life to understand and meet the needs of consumers around the world.