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
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced that the Assembly of the Hague Union has decided to freeze the application of the...
IP analysis: Andrew Moir, partner and David Webb, England and Wales-qualified registered foreign lawyer in Hong Kong, of Herbert Smith Freehills LLP,...
The European Commission has published findings from its evaluation of Commission Regulation (EU) No 316/2014 (the Technology Transfer Block Exemption...
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced the adoption of the Riyadh Design Law Treaty by its member states. This new treaty...
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...
Latest IP Practice Notes
Licensing intellectual property rightsLicensing IP rights—introductionDrafting IP licences can raise a number of commercial and legal issues, which...
Sub-licensing intellectual property rightsAn IP owner may choose to license its IP to a third party. This can be an effective route to generating...
Valuing IPIntroductionValuation is required at many points in the lifecycle of an IP asset, and for many different purposes, including:•sale and...
Drafting a trade mark licence—a practical guideThis Practice Note is a practical guide to drafting a trade mark licence. It is intended to provide an...
UK and EU trade mark legislationThis Practice Note sets out the key legislative provisions which govern UK trade mark registrations.FrameworkThe trade...
Latest IP Precedents
Cease and desist letter—IP infringement[Alleged infringer’s name and address][Date]Dear [insert name][Insert title of the letter here, which should...
Notice and take-down letter—trade marks[Postal address for internet service provider/host online platform][Date]By registered post and email: [email...
Letter of claim—design right infringement[Alleged infringer’s name and address][Date]Dear [insert organisation name],[REGISTERED DESIGN NUMBER AND...
Letter of claim—parallel imports and trade mark infringement[Alleged infringer’s name and address][Date]Dear [insert organisation name],[UK trade mark...
Letter of claim—passing off[Infringer name and address][Date]Dear [insert organisation name]Letter of claim—passing off: [Subject]We are writing on...
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
Licence of right
The proprietor of a patent can have the register endorsed to provide a licence to anybody who asks for one. Absent agreement the terms are set by the comptroller.
Money debt
(1) For the purposes of this Part a money debt is a debt which— (a) falls to be settled— (i) by the payment of money, (ii) by the transfer of a right to settlement under a debt which is itself a money debt, or (iii) by the issue or transfer of any share in any company, (b) has at any time fallen to be so settled, or (c) may at the option of the debtor or the creditor fall to be so settled. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1) any option exercisable by either party to settle the debt in any other way than is mentioned in subsection (1)(a) is ignored. (3) A money debt is a debt arising from a transaction for the lending of money for the purposes of this Part if an instrument is issued by any person for the purpose of representing— (a) security for the debt, or (b) the rights of a creditor in respect of the debt. (4) A debt does not arise from a transaction for the lending of money for the purposes of this Part so far as it arises from rights conferred by shares in a company. (5) But see the following provisions (as a result of which some such rights are within this Chapter)—
SPC
A supplementary protection certificate (SPC) extends the protection conferred by a patent to a particular plant protection or medicinal product by up to five years, provided certain conditions are met.
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