Copyright and design
Content
Your creative work, original ideas and branding are all valuable. We can make sure they are properly protected so that you can benefit from any potential commercial opportunities and prevent misuse. We can also advise on exploitation of your intellectual property generally – and how to monetise it.
How our intellectual property lawyers can help you
Copyright is automatically generated when you create original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, as well as sound recordings, films and broadcasts. Likewise, unregistered design rights arise automatically upon the creation of an original design. Trade marks are valuable in creating a brand and achieving recognition. Understanding these rights is a crucial step to protecting and exploiting them.
Our experienced intellectual property team can assist on all aspects of copyright, designs, trade marks (and indeed other intellectual property rights such as database rights, patents) and moral rights and rights in confidential information, know-how and trade secrets - whether you wish to protect and enforce your rights, register your rights, exploit your rights or defend yourself against misuse or attacks.
We will advise you and work with and support you any time you want to do deal with, exploit or protect intellectual property (whether its copyright, designs, trade marks, patents, confidential information, domain names, moral rights, database rights, trade secrets, know-how – or anything else!. We can be there every step of the way in ensuring that your rights work for you.
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Our clients
Our significant clients include Coats PLC, Boodle & Dunthorne, Coffee Republic Retail and Rayware and various NHS Trusts. We work with rights owners, rights seekers, licensing teams and business owners across all sectors. Our experience is deep and wide-ranging so you can be sure that your rights are in trusted hands.
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Our experience
- Acted for Princes Ltd against the appeal raised by Etablissements Paul Paulet relating to the previous revocation of a patent in 26 European jurisdictions by the European Patent Office.
- Advising our client, a clothing design and retail company, on the infringement of their dress designs.
- Managing the trade mark and design right portfolio of a major household name sinvolving hundreds of marks and designs
- Assisting our client, an education provider, by reviewing the scope of their course materials and putting a suite of documents in place to protect their asset and to prevent third party copying.
- Advising on the split-out of IP rights between the creators of them.
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FAQs
How can you help us with protecting and enforcing our intellectual property?
If you want to protect and enforce your rights we can help you with:
- ensuring that the best possible protection is in place for all intellectual property and intangible knowledge or other assets
- advising you on the registration of intellectual property rights
- acting for you in disputes about intellectual property, whether seeking to settle disputes amicably or pursuing claims before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) or the High Court
How can you help us with exploiting our intellectual property?
If you want to make money from your intellectual property we can support you with:
- drafting and negotiating licences to assist in commercial exploitation
- reviewing portfolios and checking to see who owns various rights and if licences/assignments are needed if you want to use any works in which they are embodied
- deciding the best approach if you want to buy or sell a company or assets where intellectual property rights matter
How can you help us to defend against allegations of intellectual property infringement?
If you need to defend yourself in IP proceedings we can act for you if you are facing allegations of infringement, both pre-action and in proceedings brought in the IPEC or the High Court.
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Useful links
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