Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property Law for Businesses

Our intellectual property experts are here to support you in all elements of IP including trade marks, passing off, copyright, registered and unregistered designs, confidential information and patents. We provide comprehensive assistance with both intellectual property disputes and commercial IP matters, ensuring your rights are protected and your business can fully leverage its valuable intellectual property.

Why is intellectual property important?

Intellectual property is essential for business owners as it protects the ideas, innovations, and brands that drive success. It allows businesses to safeguard their unique creations and commercially exploit them without the threat of infringement.

Intellectual property services

  • Copyright – Copyright protects original works of authorship like literature, music, and software. Safeguarding copyright ensures exclusive rights to use, distribute, and monetise creative content, preventing unauthorised use or infringement.
  • Defamation and reputation management – Defamation and reputation management are essential for protecting your brand identity. We provide legal support to address defamatory statements, ensuring your intellectual property is not unfairly harmed by false claims.
  • Design rights – Design rights protect the unique appearance of products in industries like fashion, furniture and technology. Securing design rights allows you to prevent competitors from copying the distinctive look of your products.
  • Image rights – Image rights protect the commercial use of a person’s likeness, brand or identity. We ensure that your image rights are enforced, preventing unauthorised exploitation.
  • Passing off – Passing off protects business owners from competitors who attempt to mislead consumers by imitating their brand. We help enforce your intellectual property rights to maintain goodwill and reputation.
  • Patents – Patents protect innovative products, processes, or inventions. We guide businesses through the patent application process and help enforce their patents to prevent unauthorised use of inventions.
  • IP disputes – Intellectual property disputes arise when your rights are challenged. We provide comprehensive support to ensure your IP protections are enforced through negotiation, mediation or litigation.
  • Trade marks – Trade marks protect the names, logos, and symbols that distinguish your business and brand. We offer trademark registration and management services, safeguarding your brand identity under UK intellectual property law.
  • Trade secrets – Trade secrets protect confidential business information, such as formulas or processes. We help you secure trade secrets and prevent unauthorised disclosure or use by competitors.

Why use Trethowans?

We aim to provide a quality legal service working in partnership with you to help achieve your commercial aims. We provide regular reports on progress and costs to ensure that your matter remains on track and within budget.

Laura Trapnell is a highly experienced intellectual property and information technology lawyer with over 25 years of expertise.  She brings a particular expertise in trade mark law and leads our in-house trade mark filing practice. Her clients describe her as “very experienced, knows everything in the IP sector and is realistic with expectations. She is very much on the ball.”

Richard Cook has over 25 years of experience in intellectual property claims. He is recommended in Chambers for his “very strong level of sophistication in his work, and a strong commercial vision.” 

Recent work highlights

  • Successfully representing Kingsway Hall Hotel Limited in an 11-day case involving complex software suitability issues, concluding with a favourable outcome.
  • Acting for a leading West End hotel in a claim regarding the use of a specific name for a new restaurant.
  • Winning an appeal for a trade mark client, overturning opposition proceedings and allowing the business to avoid rebranding.
  • Acting for a prominent furniture designer in claims related to design right infringement.
  • Acting for a computer manufacturer in a claim by Microsoft over infringement of copyright through the alleged non-licencing of products.
  • Promptly taking down false websites in the USA which copied a national-brand crafting client’s site, enforcing our client’s copyright under international treaties.

To find out more, contact our Intellectual Property team today on 0800 2800 421.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Intellectual property (IP) is any creation of the mind that is legally protected. This includes inventions, artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images used in commerce. For business owners, intellectual property is crucial as it allows you to protect and monetise your innovations, products, and brand identity. UK intellectual property law provides several protections, ensuring your creations cannot be used without your permission.

  • Intellectual property rights are the legal protections that allow individuals and businesses to control and profit from their creations. These rights include copyright, trademarks, patents, design rights, and trade secrets. For business owners, intellectual property rights help safeguard valuable assets, ensuring your creations, innovations, and brand identity are not copied or exploited without authorisation.

  • Intellectual property is generally owned by the creator or inventor of the work (whether an individual or a business), unless they are created by an employee in the usual course of his/her employment or they are assigned in writing. Accordingly, in some cases, such as employment contracts, intellectual property rights may belong to the employer. For business owners, it’s essential to clarify ownership of intellectual property through contracts to ensure all creations developed within your business are protected and owned by your company.

  • To protect intellectual property, business owners can register trademarks, patents, and design rights, and secure copyright automatically upon creation. Additionally, using non-disclosure agreements and enforcing trade secrets can safeguard confidential information. Intellectual property law provides various ways to enforce these rights, ensuring that unauthorised use or infringement of your creations can be legally challenged.

     

     

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