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
IP analysis: The Supreme Court has held that post-sale confusion can amount to an actionable infringement and is not confined to being assessed in a...
Welcome to this week’s edition of the IP weekly highlights: a hand-picked summary of news analysis, updates and new content from the world of IP....
EU law analysis: Boriana Guimberteau, partner, and Pauline Desjours, associate, of Stephenson Harwood AARPI, consider the request preliminary ruling...
The European Commission has launched a consultation on a draft delegated regulation that will supplement Regulation (EU) 2023/2411 on geographical...
IP analysis: Michael Smith of Three Stone Chambers considers the impact of Brexit on the UK's regime for the exhaustion of IP rights. In particular,...
Latest IP Practice Notes
Execution formalities—incorporated charitiesThis Practice Note provides practical guidance on the execution of documents by incorporated charities,...
IP News Analysis—Brexit collectionDateNews AnalysisBrief description of News Analysis9 September 2021Deadline for filing for UK trade mark or design...
Virtual execution of documentsThis Practice Note provides practical guidance on how to execute documents properly when one or more parties to a...
Patents—employee rights and compensationThis Practice Note introduces the UK law on employee inventions, namely when and how an employee who invents...
Brexit—service of documents [Archived]ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note considers the impact...
Latest IP Precedents
Intellectual property licence—pro-licenseeThis Agreement is made on [insert date]Parties1[insert name], a company incorporated in [England and Wales]...
1 Definitions and interpretation 1.1 In this Agreement [unless the context otherwise requires]: Business...
Research and development agreement (short form)This Agreement is made on [insert date] (the ‘Commencement Date’) between the following parties (each a...
Protecting rights in designs—training materialsThese training materials contain template PowerPoint slides and associated notes for use by a trainer...
Withholding taxes Assignor-friendly—gross-up clause 1 Any sum payable under this [agreement] shall be paid free and clear 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
Folksong
A folksong is where a literary work and musical work is unpublished and unknown authorship.
Making available right
A performer has the right to prevent the making available of the performer's work.
Non-exclusive licence
A non-exclusive licence is a licence which grants the licensee the right to do something and does not preclude other similar licences being granted to other people.
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