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
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...
Law360: Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music and affiliated music publishers have accused Anthropic in California federal court of carrying...
Law360, London: A London court ordered Samsung on 26 August 2026 to pay several Swatch brands USD11.6 million for allowing third-party smartwatch apps...
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...
MLex: The Unified Patent Court (UPC) confirmed it can hear disputes involving conduct from before it opened in 2023 while applying different...
Latest IP Practice Notes
This tracker covers litigation in multiple jurisdictions around the world dealing with complaints of copyright infringement arising from the training...
This Practice Note is a horizon scanner, tracking key future developments in UK IP law. It provides details of key dates for your diary (including...
This Practice Note tracks the progress of UK judgments, legislative proposals and current consultations, guidance and reports related to copyright and...
Copyright recognises the skill and labour and the ‘creative stamp’ expended by an author in creating a work. Copyright is, put simply, a right to copy...
This Practice Note provides an overview of the European patent application requirements and procedures at the European Patent Office (EPO), including...
Latest IP Precedents
This Agreement is made on [date]Parties1[insert name of Party A][ of OR a company incorporated in [England and Wales] under number [insert registered...
_____________________________________[DRAFT ]SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT—pre-action settlement[WITHOUT PREJUDICE AND SUBJECT TO CONTRACT [SUBJECT TO...
This Agreement is made on [insert date]Parties1[insert name], a company incorporated in England and Wales, whose registered number is [insert company...
This Agreement is made on [date]Parties1[insert name], a company incorporated in England and Wales, whose registered number is [insert company number]...
This training presentation introduces the law of trade marks and is aimed at non-specialists. It deals with protection and enforcement of UK trade...
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...
Trade mark infringement—UK
Trade mark infringementRights conferred by a trade mark registrationThe registration of a trade mark gives the owner the exclusive right to prevent...
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....
Passing off—goodwill, misrepresentation and damage
Passing off—goodwill, misrepresentation and damageWhat is passing off?Passing off is a common law tort which protects rights that are not capable of...
Absolute and relative grounds for refusal to register a UK trade mark
Absolute and relative grounds for refusal to register a UK trade markAbsolute and relative groundsA trade mark’s essential function is to be a badge...
Copyright infringement—remedies
Copyright infringement—remediesThis Practice Note covers the remedies available for copyright infringement.The remedies available in cases of...
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...
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...
Brand protection online—strategy
Brand protection online—strategyHaving an online presence is essential for most brands. Many advertise and sell their products online—on their own...
Types of dispute resolution
Types of dispute resolutionThis Practice Note provides an overview of the main types of dispute resolution that are an alternative to litigation in IP...
Parallel imports—UK
Parallel imports—UKThe legal frameworkThis Practice Note explains trade mark law on parallel trade. Parallel imports, or ‘grey market’ goods, are...
Know-how—protection and licensing
Know-how—protection and licensingThis Practice Note explains what know-how is and sets out the different ways know-how can be protected before...
Copyright—secondary infringement
Copyright—secondary infringementWhereas primary infringement requires in most instances the act of reproduction, secondary infringement is about...
Licensing intellectual property rights
Licensing intellectual property rightsLicensing IP rights—introductionDrafting IP licences can raise a number of commercial and legal issues, which...
Application to register a UK trade mark
Application to register a UK trade markThis Practice Note provides guidance on applying to register a trade mark at the UK Intellectual Property...
IP rights and semiconductors
IP rights and semiconductorsBackground to semiconductorsA semiconductor is essentially any material which has electrical conductivity and can thus...
Can the assignment of a patent be retroactively effective?
Associated legal terms
Enablement
A patent must sufficiently disclose the invention so that it can be performed by a person skilled in the art. This is called the requirement of enablement.
Passing off
Passing off is a law'>common law action used to protect unregistered trade mark rights in the UK. The three principal elements which must be demonstrated in order to succeed in a passing off case are goodwill, misrepresentation and damage.
SPC
A supplementary protection certificate (SPC) extends the protection conferred by a patent to a particular plant protection or medicinal product by up to five years, provided certain conditions are met.
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