Intellectual Property

Specialist London Lawyers for Business

The ability of businesses to innovate and create new products and services is key to getting ahead and staying ahead of the competition. Copying of good ideas by competitors is a fact of life. There is no general abstract law preventing competing businesses from doing so.

Businesses are left to secure intellectual property rights to protect themselves from competition under UK law. Understanding how IP rights can work to protect business assets is important to be able to spot the opportunities and reserve the rights and take advantage of them to maximise the return on investment of time, money and hard work.

Role of Intellectual Property

IP rights vesting in creative work has different ends for different businesses. In most cases it means a superior way of doing business; increased business agility; increased productivity or competitive edge; increased shareholder value; increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, increased revenues, and reduced costs.

Sometimes the success of a transaction depends upon both an understanding of the IPR and the type of asset being dealt with and dealing with it in a manner suited to the objectives of the business.

Many new products and services embody different types of IP. Forward-looking enterprises face the challenge of extracting the latent value of their IP and using it effectively in their business strategy. Companies that budget for time and resources to protect IP may find that their competitiveness is increased in a variety of ways.

Intellectual property protection can be used to:

• prevent competitors from copying or closely imitating a company's products or services;
• avoid wasting investment in research and development (R&D) and marketing through licensing;
• create and maintain a distinctive corporate identity through a trademark and branding strategy.

Specialist Intellectual Property law firm

Our specialist intellectual property solicitors in London providing focussed business IP legal advice to obtain, manage, protect and enforce intellectual property. Our law firm provides focussed legal advice on IP, and have advised extensively on legal issues involving copyright, patents, trademarks, design rights and confidential information. Our specialist advice includes advising on:

1. commercialising intellectual property rights, which includes copyright, patents, trade marks, anti-counterfeiting & piracy, digital rights management, know-how, confidential information, and trade secrets;
2. securing IP rights, such as buying and selling intellectual property rights, auditing IP assets, structuring licensing strategies, negotiating and drafting contracts, advising on joint ventures, advising on competition law, framework distribution and agency agreements;
3. brand protection, such as trade mark and design registrations in Europe and the UK, and implementing anti-piracy measures; and
4. enforcing intellectual property rights, by detecting and preventing infringements of rights and using alternate dispute resolution methods and commercial litigation. Also, implementation of anti-counterfeiting programmes to mitigate against the effect of counterfeiting.

Business Benefits

New and established business are able to take advantage of intellectual property rights in many ways, including:

• negotiate licensing, franchising or other IP-based contractual agreements to maximise potential value;
• increase the underlying market value of businesses;
• acquire venture capital and enhance access to finance; and
• obtain access to new markets.

We are a specialist intellectual property law firm in London. Our lawyers are available for consultation. Call us for a free initial consultation.

London Business Solicitors & Lawyers

Our Solicitors in London assist businesses in the UK and internationally to create options, achieve realistic and attainable goals, and providing guidance to assist decision-making in a commercial context.

For more information, legal advice or to find out more about the legal services we provide, call 020 7353 1770 or contact us online.