Caitlin Heard

Caitlin focuses on cross border patent litigation but also has significant experience handling complex copyright, trade secret, design right, and database right disputes. Caitlin’s recent patent cases have included representing Irdeto on a cross-border UPC claim relating to mobile operating system technology; representing Microsoft before the UK High Court in a patent claim relating to semiconductors and data centre hardware used for AI inferencing; and representing the interveners in a UK Supreme Court case about patent eligibility for AI inventions. Caitlin has also recently acted in the UK High Court in respect of a claim relating to copyright in software, and handled a leading UK High Court case on the interplay between registered designs and patents (Chiaro v Mayborn). 

Caitlin has acted on groundbreaking cases across a wide range of IP rights, including some of the formative UK litigation addressing  fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing. She assists clients with FRAND/SEP advisory work, particularly in emerging FRAND targets (avoiding litigation), and has recently advised on an antitrust dispute relating to FRAND licensing.

Caitlin has advised on biotech and pharmaceutical cases involving both patent and regulatory exclusivity rights – representing clients before the courts as well as regulators. She has a deep knowledge regarding product launch strategy, parallel imports of medicines, software product regulation in the medical device space, and medical device patents.

A published author, Caitlin co-wrote a textbook chapter in Intellectual Property in Electronics and Software (published by Globe Law and Business in 2019), on standard setting, competition law, and FRAND licensing in Europe, and also contributed to the IP chapter of textbook Crypto and Digital Assets Law and Regulation (published by Sweet & Maxwell in 2023).