Mr. Hards has a broad professional background in working on both chemical and mechanical patents. He has successfully litigated opposition, infringement and nullity cases before the German and European patent courts.
In 2008, Mr. Hards founded the patent law firm Hards & Franke. He then started up with Global IP Europe in 2012.
Areas of specialisation:
- chemistry, including polymers and pharmaceuticals
- physics, including solar cell technology, laser applications, optics and microscopy
- general mechanics, automotive inventions, weighing machines, tire components and tread patterns, exhaust gas test stands
- fluorescent dyes and OLED technology, nanotech applications
- macromolecular chemistry and plastics processing
- pharmaceuticals for generics companies
- medical devices and biotech, antibodies
- materials and organic chemistry
Andrew Hards is bilingual in English and German, speaks French and has established an understanding of Japanese.
Mr. Hards is active as a patent law tutor and webinar lecturer for the European Patent Academy. In the last years, he also presented at the EPO GL2Day lecture series in various European cities. He regularly holds training classes in industry, as well as in-house courses for patent attorneys taking the EQE.