Commercial intellectual property (IP), including brand, has been an important business asset for many years. As the UK grows and develops its knowledge economy, commercial IP will continue to be core to most businesses.
Understanding how to protect, manage and exploit your commercial IP is vital. Our team of IP lawyers has extensive experience advising on intellectual property rights and commercial IP protection. We provide clear and pragmatic advice on the creation, development, protection and exploitation of commercial IP, tailored to your business needs.
Our team includes a fully qualified UK and European Trade Mark Attorney and a dedicated trade mark support function.
Areas of focus
Our expertise in commercial intellectual property includes the following, both in the UK and internationally:
- Structuring IP ownership, particularly intra-group IP structures and holding IP in joint ventures.
- Advising on the scope of IP, including IP audits and advising on how IP should best be held and managed.
- Advising on the management of IP, including setting up IP registers and training teams who create IP.
- Brand clearance, registering IP and managing portfolios. We currently deal with registered IP portfolios covering more than 80 countries.
- Dealing with development of IP, particularly structuring joint development arrangements.
- Assigning IP rights and ensuring that IP is correctly transferred to the right party.
- Using and exploiting IP rights, particularly advising on exploitation of jointly developed IP where more than one party is sharing in the use and exploitation of the IP.
- Licensing IP to third parties, including royalty arrangements, revenue sharing and other structures.
- Advising on technology transfer arrangements, including competition law requirements.
- Documenting IP arrangements.