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: This judgment confirms the evidential and strategic importance of acquired distinctiveness, reputation and actual confusion in trade mark...
MLex: Germany’s top civil court is poised to send a copyright dispute between a photographer and AI dataset provider Laion to the EU's top court,...
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 announced proposals for a new European Innovation Act to help innovative companies develop, finance and scale up across...
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published its Trading Standards Survey 2025-26, covering April 2025 to March 2026 and highlighting...
Latest IP Practice Notes
This Practice Note considers Tomlin orders, used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order comprises a consent order and a schedule. It is used to stay...
This Practice Note considers the key issues when drafting a settlement agreement, including correct identification of the parties (including any...
This Practice Note provides general guidance for drafting witness statements of fact under CPR 32 in civil proceedings. In particular, it deals with...
STOP PRESS: Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 amending Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 and Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 as regards the...
This Practice Note examines Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in...
Latest IP Precedents
This Agreement is made on [insert date]Parties1[Insert licensor name] a company incorporated in [England and Wales] whose registered number is [insert...
Case No. [insert number]IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICEBUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND & WALESINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LIST (ChD)[[INTELLECTUAL...
This LICENCE is made on [insert date] Parties1[insert licensor name] a company incorporated in [England and Wales] under number [insert company...
This Agreement is made on [date]Parties1[insert name], a company incorporated in England and Wales, whose registered number is [insert company number]...
[Alleged infringer’s name and address][Date]Dear [insert organisation name],[UK trade mark registration number [insert number]]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...
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
Communication to the public
The communication to the public of a copyright work is an act restricted by the copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, a sound recording or film, or a broadcast.
Mention of inventor
An inventor has the right to be mentioned as such in the patent.
Tying and bundling
Tying or bundling concerns the acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts. The General Court’s 2007 decision in the Microsoft case upheld the Commission’s 2004 decision that Microsoft had unlawfully tied its Media Player (WMP) with the Windows Operating System (WOS) thereby foreclosing innovation and limiting consumer choice. The case involved technical tying through the technical integration of one product (WMP) into another (WOS).
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