Intellectual Property Disputes

Intellectual Property

‘Intellectual Property’ (IP) describes a collection of legal rights which protect the intangible assets of a business. Every business has valuable IP – in its trading name, creative ideas and concepts behind its products. The most common forms of IP are as follows:

Trademarks

A Trademark is a word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof used by a business to identify their goods and distinguish them from those sold by a competitor. All businesses should consider protecting their brand identity and products through trade mark registrations.

Premier Solicitors can assist with all aspects of registering trademarks, from carrying out the search to check if your chosen brand is available to filing the applications for their registration. Premier Solicitors carries out most of its trade mark filing on a fixed fee basis, a schedule of fees is available at request from the IP team.

If you already have a registered trademark, and your trademark is either being copied, challenged or someone is using your trademark as part of their business then our solicitors can help you. We have expertise in domain-squatting cases and also in obtaining injunctions against all types of internet related infringement. We can help you to obtain the compensation deserved where your business identity has been infringed.

Patents

A patent protects an invention via a statutory monopoly for up to 20 years. It is therefore a very valuable right for new and inventive products and processes.

Our IP team can assist with the registration of your patents and advise you where required. We work with a specialist panel of patent agents, and we are able to offer discounted cost-effective rates where a specialist patent agent is required.

Unfortunately, patent disputes arise and our solicitors are able to advise on a wide range of disputes and solutions. We can help you protect against infringement and implement an appropriate strategy to protect your invention and your rights.

Copyright

Copyright protects original material such as computer software, promotional literature, documentation and photographic material. Copyright can last for up to 70 years after the year that the author of the work dies, but more importantly, it arises without any formalities.

The lack of formality can cause problems on a practical level as often businesses do not keep appropriate records to prove the existence of copyright and ownership of it. Proving infringement of a copyright is not as straightforward as it seems. In addition, it is often thought that commissioning work gives a business the copyright, but sadly this is not the case.

Our IP team offers expert advice on a full range of contentious copyright issues from theft to piracy.

Trademarks, Patents and Copyright are our most common areas of work, but as specialists in IP we are also able to assist where your issue relates to contentious and non-contentious:

• Confidentiality
• Database Rights
• Registered and Unregistered Design Rights
• Passing Off
• Anti-Counterfeiting
• Arbitration
• High Court and Patent County Court Claims
• Mediation
• Settlements
• Validity
• Letters Before Action

At Premier Solicitors we are able to provide our clients with quality contentious and non-contentious practical IP advice at an affordable price ensuring that the IP rights belonging to your business is protected.

We recognise that a business venture can be an ‘around the clock’ commitment and that is why we have extended opening hours – 9am to 7pm weekdays and 10am to 2pm Saturdays with other appointments available at request for your ease and convenience.

Call us today on 01234 35 80 80 to speak to a member of our qualified team.

Arrange to meet one of our IP Lawyers and review your disputed intellectual property at our office in Bedford.

Get Premier Solicitors' full contact details.