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.
Topics We Cover
Latest IP News
Law360, London: Trade unions representing more than 230,000 US singers and performers cannot overturn secondary legislation that restricts their right...
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance to supplement the Green Claims Code. The guidance outlines what businesses need to...
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...
Law360, London: The Court of Justice of the EU ruled 15 January 2026 that the EU's laws permit national legislation that requires electronics...
MLex: The UK creative sector can start using a national content marketplace for licensing digital content as a government pilot begins at the end of...
Latest IP Practice Notes
Negative DeclarationsThis Practice Note considers negative declarations. It first considers what a negative declaration is, followed by the power of...
Copyright infringementThe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) gives the copyright owner exclusive rights in the UK to carry out...
Dealing with future copyright worksFuture copyrightAlthough subject to certain qualifications (discussed in more detail in Practice Note:...
Introduction to social mediaThis Practice Note provides a high-level introduction to different types of social media services and websites and...
Artificial intelligence—intellectual propertyThe purpose of this Practice Note is to explain and discuss the interplay between artificial intelligence...
Latest IP Precedents
Waiver of moral rightsWaiver of moral rightsTo: [insert name of party] of [address] ('you', 'your')From: [insert name of party] of [address] ('we',...
Draft Settlement agreement—pre-action settlement_____________________________________[DRAFT ]SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT—pre-action settlement[WITHOUT...
Draft Settlement agreement—for settling disputes post-commencement of proceedings_____________________________________[DRAFT ]SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT...
Intra-group intellectual property licenceThis Licence is made on [insert date] (Commencement Date):Parties1[insert licensor name] a company...
Non-confidential disclosure letter agreement[insert address of sender]Our ref: [insert reference]Your ref: [insert reference][insert address of...
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...
Trade mark infringement—UK
Trade mark infringementRights conferred by a trade mark registrationThe registration of a trade mark gives the owner the exclusive right to prevent...
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....
Passing off—goodwill, misrepresentation and damage
Passing off—goodwill, misrepresentation and damageWhat is passing off?Passing off is a common law tort which protects rights that are not capable of...
Absolute and relative grounds for refusal to register a UK trade mark
Absolute and relative grounds for refusal to register a UK trade markAbsolute and relative groundsA trade mark’s essential function is to be a badge...
Copyright infringement—remedies
Copyright infringement—remediesThis Practice Note covers the remedies available for copyright infringement.The remedies available in cases of...
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...
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...
Brand protection online—strategy
Brand protection online—strategyHaving an online presence is essential for most brands. Many advertise and sell their products online—on their own...
Types of dispute resolution
Types of dispute resolutionThis Practice Note provides an overview of the main types of dispute resolution that are an alternative to litigation in IP...
Parallel imports—UK
Parallel imports—UKThe legal frameworkThis Practice Note explains trade mark law on parallel trade. Parallel imports, or ‘grey market’ goods, are...
Know-how—protection and licensing
Know-how—protection and licensingThis Practice Note explains what know-how is and sets out the different ways know-how can be protected before...
Copyright—secondary infringement
Copyright—secondary infringementWhereas primary infringement requires in most instances the act of reproduction, secondary infringement is about...
Licensing intellectual property rights
Licensing intellectual property rightsLicensing IP rights—introductionDrafting IP licences can raise a number of commercial and legal issues, which...
Application to register a UK trade mark
Application to register a UK trade markThis Practice Note provides guidance on applying to register a trade mark at the UK Intellectual Property...
IP rights and semiconductors
IP rights and semiconductorsBackground to semiconductorsA semiconductor is essentially any material which has electrical conductivity and can thus...
Can the assignment of a patent be retroactively effective?
Associated legal terms
Infringement of copyright
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) gives the copyright owner exclusive rights in the UK to carry out various acts in relation to the copyright work. Activities set out in the CDPA 1988 carried out by those other than the copyright owner, without permission, may infringe the owner's exclusive rights.
Joint authorship
A work of joint authorship is a work produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of each author is not distinct from that of the other author or authors.
Land “in a contaminated state”
(1) For the purposes of this Part land is in a contaminated state if (and only if), because of something in, on or under the land, the land is in a condition such that— (a) relevant harm is being caused, or (b) there is a serious possibility that relevant harm will be caused. (2) But land is not in a contaminated state by reason of the presence in, on or under it of— (a) living organisms or decaying matter deriving from living organisms, air or water, or (b) anything present otherwise than as a result of industrial activity. (3) The Treasury may by order specify circumstances in which subsection (2) is not to apply to the extent specified in the order; and an order under this subsection may contain incidental, supplemental, consequential and transitional provision and savings. (4) In this section “relevant harm” means— (a) death of living organisms or significant injury or damage to living organisms, (b) significant pollution of controlled waters, (c) a significant adverse impact on the ecosystem, or (d) structural or other significant damage to buildings or other structures or interference with buildings or other structures that significantly compromises their use.
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