Intellectual Property

Your brand, name and logo tell clients who you are. Other than your products or services, they are the most important consumer facing aspects of your business.

Modern organisations are beginning to recognise the huge commercial value and potential behind these assets and for some businesses, particularly in franchising, the goodwill in the trade mark and trade dress are often worth much more than the physical assets or bricks and mortar businesses.

Every business, no matter how small, has intellectual property assets which should be protected. This can be the name of the business, the product name or the logo under which you sell your products or provide your services. The goodwill generated becomes a valuable right enabling the customer to identify your products/services from those of your competitors. Copyright and other intellectual property rights (“IPR”) can vest in any tangible creative content produced. All valuable IPR should be protected as they add value to a business and the right protection can facilitate enforcement of your rights if they are infringed.

Infringement of IPR could lead to a civil claim for damages as well as an injunction. It could, in some cases also result in criminal prosecution.

Our IP team at Talbot Walker can assist you in the following specialist areas:

• Identifying and protecting your valuable IPR
• Undertaking trade mark and IPR clearances to ensure non infringing usage
• Protecting your  IPR such as trade marks, design rights and domain names etc.
• Managing an IPR portfolio globally
• Handling any IPR transactional work eg franchising, recordal programmes of devolved IPR
• IPR due diligence in mergers and takeovers
• Providing strategic advice regarding ownership, licensing structures, policing and enforcement of IPR
• Opposition and invalidation proceedings of IPR at UK or EU level and managing overseas legal proceedings
• Advising and assisting on IPR claims and proceedings