

Michael assists clients at all stages of the journey, from capturing new ideas to enforcing resulting IP rights. In doing so, he has helped businesses protect their IP and harness it to maximise their return on R&D investments. This includes enabling clients to eliminate copyists, preserve market share, receive licence fees, secure tax breaks and attract investment.
Michael routinely advises clients on patent and design prosecution matters. He also guides clients in navigating third-party IP rights to better understand their own freedom-to-operate and in challenging such IP rights in oppositions. Michael has extensive experience handling complex patent matters involving questions of infringement and validity, securing significant revenue for his clients.
Michael is experienced in assisting clients across a spectrum of experience levels. He is dedicated to providing each client with exceptional service.
Michael works with a diverse range of clients including large multinational companies, SMEs, and start-ups in the UK, Europe and further afield. Notable clients include globally leading providers in the fields of payment cards, telecoms infrastructure and devices, and scientific equipment. Michael’s clients also include household names in fashion, cosmetics and sports.
In his spare time Michael enjoys spending time with his young family.
Michael regularly works across a range of different technology areas. These include:
- Cryogenics
- Scientific apparatus
- Fintech
- Microscopy
- Telecommunications
- Software
- Quantum technologies
- Medical devices
- Consumer goods
- Oil & gas, including surveying and extraction technologies
European Patent Attorney
UK Patent Attorney
UPC Representative
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA)
Member of the European Patent Institute (EPI)
Michael graduated from the University of Manchester with a First Class Master’s Degree in Physics.
After joining GJE in 2012, Michael qualified as a UK Patent Attorney and a European Patent Attorney in 2017. He became a senior associate in 2020, and joined the partnership in January 2025.
Insights and events by Michael Vallance

Startup stories: Audoo
GJE works with start-up companies across many sectors both in the UK and worldwide. A common challenge in...

How to Recognise Whether Your Fintech Invention Is Patentable in Europe: Knowing What to Say and What Not To!
Unless a new device has been developed, most fintech inventions can be characterised, on some level at least,...

Checking in on the ‘Notional Business Person’: A Look at the Treatment of Business Methods by the EPO
Background Applicants and practitioners filing patent applications for computer-implemented ‘mixed-type’ inventions will be familiar with EPO examiners striking...