Protecting Your Intellectual Investments
Intellectual property is the lifeblood of many businesses, yet in our experience, companies often do not appreciate how valuable it is until it is used without permission by another business.
Generally IP is not valued or identified on balance sheets, thereby potentially understating the true net worth of a business. This may have implications in relation to the security available for borrowing requirements and identifying the true value of the business on sale. It is now common for potential business purchasers to invest time and fees on specific due diligence concerning intellectual property.
We have the ability to identify all kinds of intellectual property – trademarks, copyright, inventions and designs – before recommending a strategy to protect and exploit them. We are members of the Intellectual Property Lawyers Association (IPLA).
We can start from scratch and ensure you establish a right to intellectual property. IP rights can exist automatically, however in some instances they have to be formally registered.
Once that right is established we can work with you to do everything we can to prevent those rights being exploited by others, without your permission.
Before you invest in protecting your IP you need to consider how you would be able to fund both the policing and defence of those rights. For most businesses setting aside a 'war chest' to fund the legal costs, which can run into many tens of thousands of pounds, is not feasible.
That is why we have worked closely with specialist insurance brokers to identify a number of 'before the event' insurance products, designed to help businesses protect their intellectual property.
We can help with:
- Brand audits
- Confidential information, know-how and trade secrets
- Copyright
- Data protection
- Design Registration
- Domain names
- Joint ventures
- Licensing
- Patents
- Trademarks