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 European Commission has launched a targeted consultation on possible changes to the EU copyright framework. It aims to assess whether further...
EU Law analysis: The Court of Justice of the European Union held that the formal validity of a contract assigning exclusive rights to use works...
The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary has issued a Practice Note on changes to CE-File, the title of proceedings and the neutral citation of judgments in...
MLex: Google faces a fresh EU copyright test over Gemini as the EU's top court is asked whether AI training, prompts, retrieval of current web content...
The Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (PMAC) has launched a consultation on its Draft FRAND Guidelines Discussion Paper, developed by the PMAC...
Latest IP Practice Notes
ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note provides information on the Business and Property Courts (B&PCs), which decide specialist business and other...
This Practice Note provides general guidance for drafting witness statements of fact under CPR 32 in civil proceedings. In particular, it deals with...
This Practice Note defines electronic disclosure and provides an introduction to the various processes you will need to undertake when dealing with...
This Practice Note sets out the IP and competition law issues which may arise in connection with character merchandising (ie the practice of licensing...
A key proposition underpinning UK competition law is that competing companies should act independently on markets. In principle, rivalry and...
Latest IP Precedents
Filed on behalf of the Applicant/[Claimant OR intended Claimant][insert initials and surname of deponent]Number of affidavit: [insert the number of...
Case No. [insert claim number]IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICEBUSINESS AND PROPERTY DIVISION[INSERT COURT/LIST/SUB-LIST] BETWEEN:[insert full name of...
Claim No. [insert claim number]IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICEBUSINESS AND PROPERTY DIVISION[INSERT COURT/LIST/SUB-LIST] Before:Date:BETWEEN:[insert full...
Case No. [insert claim number]IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICEBUSINESS AND PROPERTY DIVISION[INSERT COURT/LIST/SUB-LIST]BETWEEN:[insert full name of...
Case No. [insert claim number]IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICEBUSINESS AND PROPERTY DIVISION[INSERT COURT/LIST/SUB-LIST]BETWEEN:[insert full name 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
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.
Invention
An invention, in the context of patent law, is something which has technical character, solves a technical problem and has technical features.
Know-how
Know-how is information that can be protected under the law of confidence. It can be recorded in any form or held in the memory of an individual. Know-how is not strictly a form of property in its own right, although it is often treated as a form of intellectual property.
CONTACT US
