Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is a broad description of property rights which protect the expression of ideas, concepts, designs, representations, and the like and include such issues as:-
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Business Name Protection
What do we mean by intellectual property? It is a broad description of property rights which protect the expression of ideas, concepts, designs, representations, and the like and include such issues as:-
- Registered trademarks (protecting distinctive marks identifying a brand of origin, e.g. names, logos, distinctive branding)
- Registered designs (protecting the appearance of a product)
- Registered domain names (protecting the domain name of a business, e.g. bandhatton.co.uk)
- Copyright (an unregistered right which applies as a matter of law to protect original works such as works of art, literature, computer software, or other original work)
IP is not just an issue for large organisations. Many small and medium sized businesses have vital and valuable IP rights. Many of those rights may not currently be protected by registration, when they can be. If protected, the rights will generally become far more readily enforceable against third parties seeking to copy those rights and taking advantage of lack of registration. Every business should be aware of its own potential IP, how to protect that IP, how to best exploit that IP, and very importantly in these difficult economic times, the value of such IP which, if properly managed, can add significantly to the balance sheet - the value may be far more than many businesses realise.
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Competition
Consider some of these circumstances
- A competitor copies one of your leading products.
- A competitor starts trading under your name or logo, or a similar name or logo.
- Someone has registered the name under which you trade, and want to use on your website, as a domain name.
- An employee leaves your company and takes valuable confidential information with him/her.
These are just a very few examples of circumstances which can arise in the day to day commercial cut and thrust, but prevention is far better than cure, and our specialist IP Team can advise you on the steps which you should take to evolve a practical IP protection strategy.
If, however, you believe you may already be a victim of a competitor's activities which are infringing your IP rights, our IP Team can advise you how best you can protect your rights against such activities.
Band Hatton is conscious that some businesses do not fully appreciate just how valuable their intellectual property may be, and the steps which should be considered by all businesses to protect that property. We are happy to offer an initial free half hour consultation to consider how we may be able to help you to protect your IP and its value.
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Copyright and Database Rights
Copyright is central to the exploitation of intellectual capital in technology based companies. Recognition and enforcement of copyright in service based industries is fundamental to developing and maintaining assets upon which a company trades.
We represent media agencies, publishers, manufacturers, distributors and Internet based businesses, and assist them to safeguard their copyrights in commercial contracts and to enforce those rights when required. Our copyright solicitors are well positioned to provide strategic legal advice in these industries.
The strength of copyright is in its role of protecting all manner of original text, images, music, computer programs, and media compilations. However it does not create a panacea. It does not provide the extensive protection granted by patent law: does not protect know-how, be it ideas, information, knowledge, methods, concepts, theories or algorithms. As copyright lawyers we understand the strengths of copyright along with its weaknesses, and provide legal advice where copyright is not the most appropriate form of protection.
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Licensing and Technology Transfers
A licensing agreement is a contract conferring on someone the legal right to use intellectual property rights owned by another person. It is used when the owner of a product does not have the necessary expertise, resources, time or indeed inclination to successfully manufacture/ operate/market the particular product.
The owner grants a licence to a third party who has the requisite business acumen, knowledge and experience to operate, manufacture and market the product in a certain territory on behalf of the owner of the product. Although the licensor relinquishes the direct sale or manufacture of the product, he enjoys the benefit of still owning the intellectual property, and usually retains control over the use of same.
In addition, the licensor may receive continuing royalties throughout the duration of the licence, thereby fully maximising his return. Royalty figures are usually calculated based on the number of licensed products sold. It would therefore be most advantageous for the licensor to select the licensee who is likely to make the best yield on the product.
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Patent Protection and Exploitation
With businesses focusing more and more on the value of intellectual property and the ways and means that it may be used to generate alternative revenue streams. Our patent lawyers assist our clients determine the ownership of patent rights, design investment structures and provide corporate advice dealing with the development and creation of revenue streams for patented assets and sale of patented inventions. Our patent solicitors also look to help our clients achieve commercial goals in cost effective and efficient manner.
We also provide patent litigation services, including legal advice on the revocation of patents, eligibility of inventions for patent protection, validity of patents and enforcement of patent rights and the amount of damages that may be available in patent infringement legal actions.
Our patent lawyers can tell you whether your property can be protected, what you have to do to protect it and how to make the most of intellectual property rights.
Our services include legal advice on:
- patentability of inventions
- where a manufacturer or service provider is prevent from entering a market due to an existing patent, advising on revocation proceedings
- availability of compulsory licences where the patent owner refuses to licence on reasonable terms
- conducting searches to avoid infringing existing patent holders´ rights
- defending against patent infringement claims
- pursuing infringement litigation
- monitoring patent applications to protect existing patent monopoly rights
- negotiation and settlement of patent disputes
- advising on strategies for obtaining patent protection worldwide
- opposing patent applications
- portfolio management
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Protecting Information and Trade Secrets
The law of confidential information grants one of the broadest forms of protection of material in the suite of rights related to intellectual property. A duty to maintain information as confidential arises automatically by operation of law where the circumstances of the passing of the information regardless of form may be reasonably expected. It may also arise by agreement, such as where non-disclosure has been agreed by two or more people, such as non-disclosure agreements with consultants, employees or trading partners.
This right to require a third party to keep information confidential often offers broader protection than other forms of intellectual property rights as it is a right that disregards the form of the information. The key questions are whether the limited number of people are aware of the information, and whether the person receiving the information ought reasonably suppose that the information should remain secret. The rights of employees to apply their skills and experience gained during the course of their employment is a significant exception to the restriction to use confidential information. This exception however does not extend to processes or products that are the trade secret of a company.
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Registered Design and Design Rights
Designs mean different things to different people. Designs law is predominantly concerned with protecting the outward appearance of manufactured products.
There are two types of design protection. Firstly the unregistered ´design right´ applies automatically in the same way as copyright law; secondly, a registered design, requires a formal application to the Patents Office and grants more extensive protection.
Manufactured products are often the result of significant market research and investment in the development process. These often warrant protection as registered designs. Registered designs are arguably the most cost effective means of registered intellectual property protection.
Registered Designs protection applies to all manner of industrially manufactured products which have some physical characteristic that is visually distinctive and new, whether it was designed for domestic or industrial use. It protects the shape, configuration, surface decoration and patterns from coping, and as such may be made to play an important part in ensuring future returns on investments are realised, by having an effective legal right against predatory copyists.
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Safeguarding IPR in Environmental Matters
Our Intellectual Property Rights team consists of litigation and commercial lawyers who provide advice in both contentious and non-contentious matters with a depth of resources and specialisms. They have experience in alternative dispute resolution, particularly mediation and arbitration.
We also have trademark and design rights experience with clients ranging from technology companies, to public sector organisations. The litigators have experience obtaining Anton Piller Orders, pursuing and defending injunctive proceedings and handling high value claims against copyright pirates and trade mark and patent infringers. The team is able to provide pragmatic, effective advice on key areas such as drafting bespoke software contracts, licensing software, intellectual property rights issues and technology transfers.
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Trademarks
Indelible and distinctive trade marks are a crucial and rare commodity. Trade marks hold significant value in identifying products, goods and services and nurturing customer loyalty.
A trade mark is a sign that distinguishes goods and services of one trader from another. Logos, slogans, signatures, letters, numerals, packaging, shapes of products and packaging, scents, colours and sounds may be registered as trade marks.
Registration prevents others using a substantially identical or deceptively similar trade mark in relation to the goods and services for which the trade mark is registered, or similar goods and services.
Applications for trade marks may be made prior to its use in the market, and no reputation in the mark is required for registration. We deliver a complete range of services with regard to trade marks.
Our services include:
- searches of trade marks
- registers to detect potential infringement and obstacles to registration;
- legal advice on registration of trade marks;
- drafting trade mark specifications;
- filing trade mark applications worldwide;
- monitoring the trade mark registers to ensure registered rights are not prejudiced;
- pursuing and contesting oppositions to applications; and
- trade mark portfolio management: a service that takes in renewals and monitoring of new applications that should not co-exist on a trade mark register.
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For further information please contact any member of our IP Unit, Haydn Jones, Jon Wilby, Philip Costigan or Mark Ridley
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