Jason Burwell

British - American

Mediator

20+ years of experience

Language:

English, German, French

Present Function:

He served until 2023 as Senior IP Counsel at Jemella Ltd (ghd), a subsidiary of the Wella Company. He has since concluded his active professional involvement in the intellectual property sector and is currently engaged in other professional pursuits. He is therefore fully independent and available to act as a neutral in patent mediation matters, with minimal risk of conflicts of interest arising from ongoing professional engagements.

General Expertise:

Technical Expertise:

Certifications and/or licenses

European Qualifying Examination (European Patent Attorney) - April 1999.
Entry on Swiss Patent Attorney Register - August 2011.

Professional legal or litigation experience related to the scope of competence of the PMAC

Commercial, legal and technological litigation management and execution as in-house IP counsel for BTG, Tyco International, Bühler and ghd before national courts in Germany, Switzerland, France, Turkey, US and UK over approximately 20 years, also including management and execution of opposition and appeal cases before EPO opposition divisions and the EPO board of appeal. Technical fields of the European patents involved included medical devices, electronic systems and mechanical systems.

Professional technical experience related to the scope of competence of the PMAC

EPO substantive patent examiner of European patent applications for 4 years in the technical field of electronics, software and control systems - in-house IP counsel/manager for over 26 years with CCL, BTG, Kogitant, Tyco International, Bühler and ghd working on almost all aspects of European patents in the technical fields of medical devices, mechanical systems, electrical systems and electronic systems

Memberships and/or accreditations

CEDR-accredited mediator - Jan 2011.
Entry onto WIPO list of mediators - 2011.

Former memberships:
EPI - Registered EPA - 1999-2023
CiArb - Mediator member - 2011-2023

Practical experience of conducting mediation or conciliation or judicial settlement conferences or out-of-court dispute settlements in disputes related to the scope of competence of the PMAC

Over the course of more than 14 years with Tyco International and Bühler, many instances (best guesstimate: 30-40) of being involved as leading in-house IP counsel in reaching commercially-negotiated, out-of-court settlements of disputes with competitors in relation to European (and other) patents and other disposable rights or obligations factually or legally linked to those disputes in Germany, Turkey, China, USA and Switzerland - also acted as co-mediator (neutral) in a non-patent-related commercial software dispute - also spent 4 years at the European Patent Office settling disputes as examiner (appx equivalent to arbitral panel member or judge) with applicants as to the potential grantability of their patent applications and issuing decisions relating thereto - including both ex-partes (examination) and inter-partes (opposition) matters