Most businesses, from global corporate entities to small owner-managed businesses, are likely to own some form of Intellectual Property (IP). With this month’s edition of All Things Business focusing on creative marketing, your IP is perhaps something to explore in greater detail.
From a balance sheet perspective IP might be intangible but to a business it can be crucial and extremely valuable and can often be what sets your business apart from a competitor.
IP can be found in many formats, such as website articles, videos or imagery and the majority of businesses will have at least a logo either on their website or their stationery.
If you are reading this article and have IP you hopefully have, or have at least considered, protection for it, such as a registered trade mark, a registered design, copyright protection or maybe even a patent.
As with many things in business, the costs associated with protecting your IP need to make commercial sense but from our experience it can sometimes be bene cial to look at these things from a reverse perspective of ‘what will the impact and cost to my business be if I don’t protect the IP?’
Each of the protections mentioned above will help protect you/your company but it will also make it easier to take legal action against anyone who steals or copies it.
Should it prove to be necessary, legal proceedings can be filed either through the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) or through the Courts. The exact nature of the proceedings will depend on where proceedings can be filed. For example, copyright infringement claims can only be filed through the Courts.
Our experienced team will take a pragmatic approach in helping you to resolve any dispute and explore all options available to you. Before any proceedings are issued it may be possible to use mediation to find a solution. Mediation has been known to speed up the process and is often cheaper than taking formal recovery action and is, therefore, beneficial to all parties. The purpose of a mediator is to provide an independent view on a dispute and help find a solution that both parties accept.
Over the years, we have dealt with many IP infringement claims and have relationships with mediators and IP specialists to help progress your case.
To find out more, contact Paul Currie at DFA Law on 01064 609560, email paul.currie@dfalaw.co.uk or visit DFA Law’s website here.
