About IP Law
With the laws around Intellectual Property and Information Technology changing all the time, keeping pace is hard enough. But knowing the law isn’t enough. You need to know what those changes are going to mean for your clients. The big picture, the fine detail, the impact and the next steps.
Copyright
Practical information about copyright, moral rights, performers’ rights and rights in performances. Get precedent copyright assignments and licences here.
Trade marks
Practical information about trade marks, passing off, geographical indications and anti-counterfeiting. Get precedent trade mark assignments and licences here.
Patents
Practical information about patents and supplementary protection certificates. Get precedent patent assignments and licences here.
IP disputes
Get guidance on strategic and practical steps for dealing with IP disputes, including ways of trying to avoid them in the first place. Our case analysis highlights points from judgments so you can be confident at work.
Latest IP News
IP analysis: The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by Dairy UK Ltd and reinstated a declaration made by the UK Intellectual Property Office that Oatly...
This week's edition of IP weekly highlights includes: a hand-picked summary of news analysis, updates and new content from the world of IP. These...
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has announced significant changes to the renewal system for Registered EU Designs (REUDs). The...
Law360, London: The Court of Appeal has rejected a payment tech provider's application to revive its patent for printed QR codes in a battle with...
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a consultation on draft guidance regarding the unfair commercial practices provisions in the...
Latest IP Practice Notes
IP focused guide to the fashion industryHow the fashion industry worksThe fashion industry is a globalised, billion-dollar, fast-moving industry, with...
Copyright and databases tracker—UKThis Practice Note tracks the progress of UK judgments, legislative proposals and current consultations related to...
Trade mark infringement—UKThis Practice Note covers infringement of UK trade marks registered under the Trade Marks Act 1994 (TMA 1994). It considers...
Managing a trade mark portfolioThis Practice Note provides strategic and practical advice on managing a trade mark portfolio that is aligned with a...
Absolute and relative grounds for refusal to register a UK trade markA trade mark’s essential function is to be a badge of origin. It distinguishes...
Latest IP Precedents
Letter of claim—database right infringementLetter of claim [Alleged infringer’s name and address][Date]Dear [insert organisation name][Copyright and]...
Template agreement—mutualThis Agreement is made on [date]Parties1[insert name of Party A][ of OR a company incorporated in [England and Wales] under...
Letter of claim—peer-to-peer copyright infringementLetter of claim[Alleged infringer’s name and address][Date]Dear [insert organisation name]Copyright...
Briefing for directors—general duties under the Companies Act 2006Every director of a company owes a number of duties to the company they are...
Database sale agreement—including provisions for personal data—pro-assigneeThis Agreement is made on [insert date]Parties1[insert name] [of OR a...
Latest IP Q&As
Featured IP content
Introduction to passing off
Introduction to passing offUnlike many other countries, the UK has no unfair competition law. Brand owners seeking to prevent competitors from...
Copyright infringement—remedies
Copyright infringement—remediesThis Practice Note covers the remedies available for copyright infringement.The remedies available in cases of...
Intellectual property international treaties and conventions
Intellectual property international treaties and conventionsIP laws are almost always national in nature. However, there are many conventions and...
Introduction to revocation of patents
Introduction to revocation of patentsPatents may be revoked, that is, taken off the register of patents, if it is decided that they are invalid in...
Joint ownership of intellectual property rights
Joint ownership of intellectual property rightsWhen parties collaborate on creative projects or research and development, complex questions arise...
Exploiting intellectual property rights
Exploiting intellectual property rightsIP rights are only valuable if they make money for the business. Even if they are used in the business, a...
Third party intellectual property rights indemnity clause—pro-supplier
1 Intellectual property rights indemnity 1.1 The Supplier shall defend the Customer against any third party claim that...
Commercial use of fonts and typefaces
Commercial use of fonts and typefacesTypefaces are a key component of a brand’s identity, using a unique typeface helps a business to distinguish...
Sub-licensing intellectual property rights
Sub-licensing intellectual property rightsAn intellectual property (IP) owner may choose to license its IP to a third party. This can be an effective...
Copyright—authorship and ownership
Copyright—authorship and ownershipThe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) defines the author of a work as the person who created it....
Patent term, renewal and restoration
Patent term, renewal and restorationThis Practice Note explains how long a patent lasts, how it must be maintained by renewal in order to last that...
Moral rights
Moral rightsThe nature of moral rightsThe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) confers a number of personal rights on authors that are...
Civil and criminal remedies for intellectual property infringement
Civil and criminal remedies for intellectual property infringementThis Practice Note provides an overview of the civil and criminal remedies which can...
Defences and exceptions to trade mark infringement
Defences and exceptions to trade mark infringementThe registration of a trade mark gives the owner the exclusive right to prevent others from using...
Parallel imports
Parallel importsScopeThis Practice Note explains trade mark law on parallel trade. Parallel imports, or ‘grey market’ goods, are genuine goods that...
Trade mark assignment and licensing
Trade mark assignment and licensingTrade marks can be exploited in a number of ways. They might be directly exploited by a trade mark owner (ie by...
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringementThe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) gives the copyright owner exclusive rights in the UK to carry out...
IP rights and semiconductors
IP rights and semiconductorsBackground to semiconductorsA semiconductor is essentially any material which has electrical conductivity and can thus...
Associated legal terms
Derogatory treatment
The author of a copyright literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, and the director of a copyright film, has the right not to have the work subjected to derogatory treatment.
Primary infringer
A threat can be made to a primary infringer that is protected from the tort of making unjustified threats of patent infringement.
WTO proprietor
A person is a WTO Proprietor where he or she is a national of, or is domiciled in, a country which is a member of the World Trade Organisation or he has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in such a country.
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