Intellectual Property Protection, Licensing and Exploitation

The world of Patents, Trade Marks, Design Rights and Copyright can often seem very confusing.  However, if you are a business which invents or innovates, or relies on a particular “brand” to sell your products or services, then such so called Intellectual Property Rights can often be some of the most valuable business assets you own.

We work with Patent, Trade Mark and other specialist professionals both to protect your rights in such Intellectual Property and to enable you to exploit it to its full potential for the benefit of you and your business.

We can help you by:

  • identifying Intellectual Property that you own and which is or may be of most value to you;
  • applying to register Patents, Trade Marks or Design Rights or instructing other professionals in such applications;
  • drafting Patent, Trade Mark and/or Design Right Licences and other Exploitation Agreements to ensure that any Licensees of your Intellectual Property are appointed by territory and that suitable quality control safeguards are included in any relevant documentation;
  • assisting with research and development and Collaboration Agreements.  We work with a number of Universities and Colleges who assist many of our clients with both development of Intellectual Property and subsequent industrial application of it.  Such Agreements need to be carefully drafted to ensure a balance of protection for the Universities’ own Intellectual Property and any new Intellectual Property derived from the collaboration and that an appropriate balance is struck between the industrial application and use of the technology and how any resulting royalty income is divided between your business and the University or College concerned;
  • advising you if you suspect that someone else may be infringing your Intellectual Property.  We have significant experience in Patent and Trade Mark litigation and in issuing “cease and assist” letters to protect Patent, Trade Mark and Copyright without the need for the formal issue of Court proceedings.