Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Protecting intellectual property (IP) is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge and fostering innovation within your business.

Whether it's a unique product design, proprietary software, or a brand name, securing your intellectual property (IP) safeguards your investment in research and development, enhances the value of your company, and creates a barrier to entry for competitors.

Myerson's intellectual property solicitors can provide invaluable assistance with:

Advising on a Wide Range of Intellectual Property Rights and Matters

• IP Audits – Conducting comprehensive IP audits to assess and enhance the protection of your intellectual property.
• Computer Programs & Software – Advising on protecting the IP in your software programs, apps, platforms, and interfaces, including source code, object code, design rights, patents, and trademarks. Ensuring contractual arrangements with employees, clients, and third-party suppliers effectively safeguard your intellectual property (IP).
• Copyright – Advising on what constitutes copyright works, strategies for protecting them, and ways to commercially exploit them responsibly.
• Confidential Information and Trade Secrets – Helping ensure your business has the right protections in place, such as NDAs and confidentiality clauses in contracts, to safeguard sensitive information.
• Database Rights, Patents, and Trademarks – Advising on the nature of these rights and strategies to protect them.
• Sale and Assignments of IP – Providing legal advice for selling or assigning intellectual property rights.
• Escrow Agreements – Assisting with agreements to safeguard source code in business partnerships, ensuring terms outline access conditions and responsibilities.
• Employees and IP Ownership – Advising on who owns IP created by employees and how to protect it.

Establishing, Securing, and Enforcing IP Rights

• Securing patents, trademarks, copyrights, and design rights.
• Protecting trade secrets and confidential business information.
• Representing you in cases of intellectual property infringement.
• Resolving domain name disputes, passing-off claims, and misuse of confidential information.

Drafting, Reviewing, and Managing IP Agreements

• Drafting and reviewing contracts to ensure your IP rights are protected in business agreements.
• Advising on licensing agreements and terms to maximise the value of your IP.
• Consulting on compliance with UK and international intellectual property laws.

• Our intellectual property experts advise clients on a broad range of intellectual property matters, from initial registration and exploitation to protection and enforcement.
• Our specialist IP litigation team is also highly experienced in handling business disputes involving intellectual property.
• Myerson is a member of the Intellectual Property Lawyers Association (IPLA), an association of law firms with an established intellectual property office. Our membership provides our clients and us with access to a wealth of knowledge and expertise in intellectual property.
• Through our many years of service, we have close working relationships with trade mark and patent attorneys and regularly liaise with them on a wide range of intellectual property issues, such as registering trademarks, patents and design rights, and when disputes arise concerning intellectual property rights. These working relationships are a key element of the service we offer to our clients.
• Myerson is also the Manchester and Cheshire law firm member for the MSI Global Alliance, a top 20 ranked international association of independent professional firms. As the IP matters we deal with often involve an international element, we can call upon the expertise and knowledge of our fellow MSI members to ensure that our client's global interests are protected.

• Patents - Patents offer legal protection to inventors. Typically, an employer owns a patent if the invention is created during an employee's regular or assigned duties. Employees can't transfer rights to unmade inventions, but employment contracts should clarify patent ownership. If in doubt, employers should seek written consent from the employee post-creation.
• Employee Compensation - Employees could be entitled to compensation if their patented inventions significantly benefit the employer.
• International Context - UK patent laws apply to employees primarily based in the UK. Local laws dictate rights for employees mainly working outside the UK.
• Consultants - Consultants usually own the intellectual property they create unless otherwise specified.
• Copyright - The employer usually owns copyright for works created by employees during employment unless otherwise agreed. For consultants, a written assignment is required to transfer copyright ownership.
• Moral Rights - Creators have non-transferable moral rights in their works, which can be waived in writing.
• Database Rights - Employers own the database rights if the database is created during an employee's regular duties.
• Designs - Employers can own both registered and unregistered designs if created by an employee during work.
• Community Designs - Rights to community-wide design protection generally belong to the employer, except in commissioned designs.
• Trade Marks - Ownership disputes between employers and employees are settled based on evidence of bad faith or prior reputation in the mark.
• Domain Names - If disputed, employers can claim domain names registered by employees through legal procedures, given certain conditions.
• Know-How - While not a traditional IP right, know-how is valuable and should be kept confidential. Legal liability can arise from the misuse of confidential information by current or former employees.