People - Erica Dutton

Erica Dutton is the  Azright specialist in patents involving technology and telecommunications, having a degree in physics from Imperial College and a MSc in medical physics from Aberdeen University. She is also a European (and Chartered) Patent Attorney, having qualified in 1986. She has worked primarily in industry but has significant experience in private practice, having spent three years with one of the largest Australian firms (Davies, Collison, Cave). She was the first British patent attorney to pass all the Australian exams at first attempt. Returning to the UK, she joined BT with responsibility in opto-electronics and software-based inventions, being one of two attorneys tasked with developing a software-based patent portfolio. In 1998 she became Head of Patents and thus one of a team of three running the firm’s Patent Division, deciding to become independent in 2001. Since then, she has provided patent services to a wide range of clients, from independent inventors to large corporates, in a wide range of technologies including: fixed, Internet and mobile network-based systems and communications, equipment, software and devices; information processing, imaging and artificial intelligence; optoelectronics and medical physics equipment; engineering and mechanical equipment.