About IP Law
With the laws around Intellectual Property and Information Technology changing all the time, keeping pace is hard enough. But knowing the law isn’t enough. You need to know what those changes are going to mean for your clients. The big picture, the fine detail, the impact and the next steps.
Copyright
Practical information about copyright, moral rights, performers’ rights and rights in performances. Get precedent copyright assignments and licences here.
Trade marks
Practical information about trade marks, passing off, geographical indications and anti-counterfeiting. Get precedent trade mark assignments and licences here.
Patents
Practical information about patents and supplementary protection certificates. Get precedent patent assignments and licences here.
IP disputes
Get guidance on strategic and practical steps for dealing with IP disputes, including ways of trying to avoid them in the first place. Our case analysis highlights points from judgments so you can be confident at work.
Topics We Cover
Latest IP News
IP analysis: The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal of the IPEC’s finding that Nanthakumar and...
Law360, London: The EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) must weigh up potential conflicts w...
A panel of seven justices sitting in the Supreme Court has unanimously declined to introduce a ...
IP analysis: In a decisive ruling on revocation for non-use, the High Court allowed an appeal a...
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published its response on 10 April 2025 to its trans...
Latest IP Practice Notes
Drafting witness statements—technical requirementsThis Practice Note provides information on the technical requirements when drafting witness...
Witness statements—substantive contentThis Practice Note provides general guidance for drafting witness statements of fact under CPR Part 32 in civil...
Confidential information, privacy and injunctionsThis Practice Note deals with the general principles of obtaining an injunction relating to...
Copyright theft and video piracyCopyright theftTheft of copyright is criminalised by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988), the...
Removal of UK trade marks from the register—expiry, surrender, invalidity and revocationA trade mark is a badge of origin that distinguishes the goods...
Latest IP Precedents
Option 1—deed executed by administrative receiver under the company’s common seal Executed as a deed by [insert name of company]...
Option 1—deed executed by liquidator under the company’s common seal ...
Reply (database right infringement)Case No. [insert claim number]IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICEBUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND &...
Protecting know–how—training materialsThese training materials consist of template PowerPoint slides that can be used as the basis of one or more...
Intellectual property licence—pro-licensorThis Agreement is made on [insert date]Parties1[insert name], a company incorporated in [England and Wales]...
Latest IP Q&As
Featured IP content
Introduction to passing off...
Introduction to passing offUnlike many other countries, the UK has no unfair competition law. Brand owners seeking to prevent competitors from...
Copyright infringement—remedies...
Copyright infringement—remediesThis Practice Note covers the remedies available for copyright infringement.The remedies available in cases of...
Intellectual property international treaties ...
Intellectual property international treaties and conventionsIP laws are almost always national in nature. However, there are many conventions and...
Introduction to revocation of patents...
Introduction to revocation of patentsPatents may be revoked, that is, taken off the register of patents, if it is decided that they are invalid in...
Joint ownership of intellectual property righ...
Joint ownership of intellectual property rightsWhen parties collaborate on creative projects or research and development, complex questions arise...
Exploiting intellectual property rights...
Exploiting intellectual property rightsIP rights are only valuable if they make money for the business. Even if they are used in the business, a...
Third party intellectual property rights inde...
1 Intellectual property rights indemnity 1.1 The Supplier shall defend the Customer against any third party claim that...
Commercial use of fonts and typefaces...
Commercial use of fonts and typefacesTypefaces are a key component of a brand’s identity, using a unique typeface helps a business to distinguish...
Sub-licensing intellectual property rights...
Sub-licensing intellectual property rightsAn intellectual property (IP) owner may choose to license its IP to a third party. This can be an effective...
Copyright—authorship and ownership...
Copyright—authorship and ownershipThe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) defines the author of a work as the person who created it....
Patent term, renewal and restoration...
Patent term, renewal and restorationThis Practice Note explains how long a patent lasts, how it must be maintained by renewal in order to last that...
Moral rights...
Moral rightsThe nature of moral rightsThe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) confers a number of personal rights on authors that are...
Civil and criminal remedies for intellectual ...
Civil and criminal remedies for intellectual property infringementThis Practice Note provides an overview of the civil and criminal remedies which can...
Defences and exceptions to trade mark infring...
Defences and exceptions to trade mark infringementThe registration of a trade mark gives the owner the exclusive right to prevent others from using...
Parallel imports...
Parallel importsScopeThis Practice Note explains trade mark law on parallel trade. Parallel imports, or ‘grey market’ goods, are genuine goods that...
Trade mark assignment and licensing...
Trade mark assignment and licensingTrade marks can be exploited in a number of ways. They might be directly exploited by a trade mark owner (ie by...
Copyright infringement...
Copyright infringementThe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) gives the copyright owner exclusive rights in the UK to carry out...
IP rights and semiconductors...
IP rights and semiconductorsBackground to semiconductorsA semiconductor is essentially any material which has electrical conductivity and can thus...
Associated legal terms
Excluded subject matter
A patent will not be granted for excluded subject matter.
Priority date of patent
The priority date is the date upon which the novelty and inventive step of a patent is judged.
Research
Copyright is not infringed in a literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work where it amounts to fair dealing for the purposes of non-commercial research.
CONTACT US
