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
Life Sciences analysis: The UK Court of Appeal (CoA) handed down its decision in the much-awaited Merck Serono v Comptroller-General of Patents case...
Law360: Grammy-winning singer Dua Lipa's chart-topping song 'Levitating' did not infringe a 1979 disco song, a New York federal judge ruled on 27...
IP analysis: This dispute concerns Thatchers’ claim that the UK trade mark registration for its lemon cider packaging was infringed by Aldi’s rival...
This week’s edition of IP weekly highlights includes: a hand-picked summary of news analysis, updates and new content from the world of IP. These...
The European Commission launched a consultation on 26 March 2025 seeking feedback on draft implementing rules for Regulation 2023/2411 concerning...
Latest IP Practice Notes
UK block exemptions revision—trackerThis Practice Note tracks the progress of the replacement of retained EU competition law in the UK. In particular,...
Business and Property CourtsThis Practice Note should be read in conjunction with Practice Note: Dispute Resolution—judicial practice notes and...
No deal Brexit—jurisdiction (UK and the Lugano Convention) [Archived]ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained.This...
No deal Brexit—applicable law [Archived]ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained.This Practice Note covers the situation...
Brexit implementation period—enforcement [Archived]ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained.This Practice Note considers...
Latest IP Precedents
Precedent instructions or brief to counsel[IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE[BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS [OF ENGLAND AND WALES OR IN [insert...
Consultancy agreement—individual and company—pro-consultantThis Agreement is made on [insert date]Parties1[Name of Company], a company incorporated in...
Patent licence—pro-licensorThis Agreement is dated [insert date]Parties1[insert name] [of OR a company incorporated in [insert jurisdiction, eg...
Patent licence—pro-licenseeThis Agreement is dated [insert date]Parties1[insert name] [of OR a company incorporated in [insert jurisdiction, eg...
Draft Settlement agreement—pre-action settlementThis Agreement is made the day of 20[insert year]Parties:1[insert name of party], a company registered...
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 and conventions
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 rights
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 indemnity clause—pro-supplier
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 property infringement
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 infringement
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
Parallel imports
Parallel imports, or ‘grey market’ goods, are genuine goods that are placed on the market by, or with the consent of, the rights holder but are imported for sale into a particular market without the right holder’s consent. They are not counterfeit or 'black market' goods.
Primary infringer
A threat can be made to a primary infringer that is protected from the tort of making unjustified threats of patent infringement.
Sufficient acknowledgement
A sufficient acknowledgement is the identification of the work in question and is required for a person to rely on certain of the fair dealing exceptions.
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