Victoria Bentley

With a technical background in software development, much of my work focuses on high tech sectors and I advise on IPR issues in software and emerging technologies including AI, IoT, blockchain and cryptography.  I also advise in varied technology disputes including contractual disputes involving high-value and complex technologies.

I have acted in ground-breaking copyright and patent cases before the UK courts, including in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and involving references to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), often in cross-border disputes.  My high-tech experience also includes international arbitration.  Speaking fluent German, I also co-ordinate multi-jurisdictional actions and have experience advising clients in UPC actions.

My technology sector experience spanning over 20 years as an IP specialist has involved me acting for clients whose technologies include software solutions, wired and wireless communications, digital media and video codecs, electronics, LEDs, digital health monitoring devices, smart metering, virtual assistant technology, fintech, smart elevators, virtual reality and metaverses, advanced manufacturing, and automotive, rail and aircraft technologies. I advise clients on patentability and provide ‘freedom to operate’ (FTO) analysis, as well as advising at the pre-action stage and to resolve IP disputes through mediation as well as in the courts.

I offer expertise in ‘standard essential’ patent (SEP) and FRAND disputes, having acted in one of the UK's largest patent cases – involving 35 patents declared essential to 3G/4G – and other seminal SEP cases.  Increasingly I advise clients in newer ‘connected’ technologies including connected mobility and driverless vehicles, e-health, smart energy and IoT.  

My extensive copyright experience includes advising clients in a wide variety of copyright disputes, many involving software as well as websites, user interfaces and printed publications. I acted in what remains one of the leading ‘look and feel’ copyright cases brought before the UK courts, relating to a video game. 

In the Life Sciences sector, I advise biotech and medtech clients on FTO and market access strategies as well as patent enforcement. I have acted for brand owners to defend blockbuster patents and for generic manufacturers to challenge patents and supplementary protection certificates (SPCs), as well as extensively in medical device litigation.  My experience includes a leading case to invalidate the SPC for a dual combination antiviral drug for the treatment of HIV, in which questions were referred to the CJEU establishing the type of patents that can be used to obtain SPCs for products containing multiple active ingredients.

I am recommended in all the major directories and ranked as a “notable practitioner” by Chambers and a “key lawyer” by Legal 500.  I was recently named in Business Today’s “Top 10 Influential IP Lawyers in Midlands”.