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
The Council of the EU has given final approval to a compulsory licensing regulation allowing certain intellectual property rights, including patents,...
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 Commission has adopted its 2026 Work Programme, Europe’s Independence Moment, setting out a new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity,...
The European Patent Office (EPO) has concluded its discussions on the 2026 EPC, PCT-EPO, and Unitary Patent Guidelines. Following the circulation of...
IP analysis: Rachel Alexander at Wiggin LLP comments on a recent letter to the Prime Minister, signed by numerous individuals and organisations across...
Latest IP Practice Notes
Trade marks tracker—UKThis Practice Note tracks the progress of UK trade mark judgments, legislative proposals, and current UK consultations, guidance...
Artificial intelligence and designWhy use artificial intelligence in design?The growing prevalence and availability of artificial intelligence (AI)...
Intellectual property aspects of corporate joint venturesIntroductionThis Practice Note sets out some of the key IP issues that should be considered...
UK Rome II—application and interpretationThis Practice Note is for use when determining applicable law in the courts of England and Wales respect of...
Patents tracker—UKThis Practice Note tracks the progress of judgments, legislative proposals and current consultations, guidance and reports related...
Latest IP Precedents
Collaboration agreementThis Agreement is made on [date]Parties1[insert name] [of OR a company incorporated in [England and Wales] under number [insert...
Research and development agreement (long form)This Agreement is made on [insert date] (the Commencement Date) between the following parties (each a...
Executing documents—training materialsThese Training Materials provide an introduction to execution and cover the principal areas of executing simple...
Copyright policyIntroductionThe purpose of this copyright policy is to provide guidance to employees and other personnel about copyright as a right,...
Research and development agreement (short form)This Agreement is made on [insert date] (the ‘Commencement Date’) between the following parties (each 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...
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
Common general knowledge
Common general knowledge, or CGK, includes information that the person skilled in the particular art would know at the patent’s priority date, together with the contents of standard textbooks on the topic concerned.
Privacy injunctions
So-called ‘super-injunctions’ refer to court orders which prohibit reporting the fact of the order (ie that an injunction exists at all). They gained particular notoriety in the media between 2010 and 2011, although only a small handful were ever actually granted by the courts in that time. ‘Anonymised injunctions’ were generally more common, although since 2011 applications for injunctions (anonymised or otherwise) have been few and far between in English courts.
Specification of a patent
The specification of a patent (or an application) means the claims, the description and any drawings.
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