Intellectual property rights give value to businesses, and therefore it is important that businesses recognise what intellectual property rights they have, what they need to do to protect them, how those rights can be exploited and how they can avoid infringing other parties’ rights.

Intellectual property rights can be exploited by an outright assignment to a third party, or by permitting a third party to exploit those rights with a licence.

The intellectual property rights we advise on include creation, exploitation, maintenance, development and protection of:

  • Trademarks
  • Patents
  • Copyright
  • Design rights
  • Information technology
  • We advise on all aspects of computer contracts, internet contracts and e-commerce, including:
  • Software licences and software support, maintenance, development and distribution agreements
  • Hardware sale and maintenance agreements
  • Confidentiality and consultancy agreements
  • Website development, internet content and website-hosting agreements
  • Terms and conditions of use and access to websites
  • Registration and use of domain names