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
MLex: The Unified Patent Court (UPC) further defined the limits of its international reach, ruling that UK patent claims against a US company could...
The Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has adopted decisions EX-26-3, EX-26-4, EX-26-5, EX-26-6, EX-26-7...
The Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU has published its programme for 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2026, outlining its priorities and direction....
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced amendments to the Regulations Under the Geneva Act (1999) of the Hague Agreement,...
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has published survey findings showing that product design is an important factor in purchasing...
Latest IP Practice Notes
A key proposition underpinning UK competition law is that competing companies should act independently on markets. In principle, rivalry and...
‘Copyright’ is a property right that confers on the owner the exclusive right to do, and authorise others to do, certain acts in relation to that...
This Practice Note summarises the law, guidance and practice relating to the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008, SI...
The purpose of this Practice Note is to explain and discuss the interplay between artificial intelligence (AI) (or machine learning) and IP.What is...
This Practice Note summarises the rules governing disclosure in IP disputes. It focuses on the disclosure scheme set out in CPR PD 57AD (and the...
Latest IP Precedents
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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
Person skilled in the art
The ‘person skilled in the art’ is a hypothetical person who is uninventive but skilled in the area of technology to which the patent is directed; they are taken to have an ordinary level of skill, rather than being super-skilled.
Relevant derelict land remediation
(1) For the purposes of this Part “relevant derelict land remediation”, in relation to land which is in a derelict state and in which a major interest has been acquired by a company, means— (a) activities in relation to which conditions A and B are met, and (b) if there are such activities, relevant preparatory activity. (2) Condition A is that the activities comprise the doing of any works, the carrying out of any operations or the taking of any steps in relation to the land in question. (3) Condition B is that the purpose of the activities is a purpose specified by order made by the Treasury. (4) An order under subsection (3) may contain incidental, supplemental, consequential and transitional provision and savings.
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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