IP STRATEGY

INDEX

• IP Strategy Overview
• Patent Searching
• Obtaining Protection
• Enforcing Your Rights
• Defending an Infringement Action
• Intellectual Property Insurance 
• The Patent Box
• Your Competitor’s IP
• IP Audits Plus
• IP Training

Albright IP is a firm of expert qualified British and European attorneys, highly experienced in handling all aspects of intellectual property protection, including patents, registered designs and trade marks.

At a high level, your intellectual property protection strategy should involve obtaining registered protection wherever possible. To support your unregistered rights and prove your entitlement, keep careful records as to who created what and when.  Your strategy should also include a plan for enforcing your IP rights if you need to, and you may want to consider taking out IP insurance.

For specific advice regarding IP enforcement, please contact us with details of your situation and we can provide you with tailored advice.

IP STRATEGY OVERVIEW

Do I need an IP strategy?

Absolutely! In order to maximise the commercial value of your IP portfolio, it is advisable to have a clear IP strategy or road map for acquiring and maintaining intellectual property protection across the board. This means identifying inventions and applying for patents, protecting your most valuable product designs by registering them, and securing your brand(s) by applying for registered trade mark(s). Whilst this does not prevent others trying to copy you, it does give you the ‘weapons’ you need to enforce your IP rights and keep your place in the market.

I already have a patent/design/trade mark (or a combination of these) for my product/brand, but I think someone is copying the core of my product/brand anyway. What can I do?

This is called ‘infringement’, and if the third party product does fall within the scope of protection afforded by your IP rights, you could be well-placed to bring an infringement action. However, please consult us first – infringement is rarely clear-cut and there can be pitfalls for making ‘groundless threats’, since there are usually multiple ways of interpreting the situation.

For more information, please see the ‘enforcing your rights’ section.

I have recently received a letter from solicitors acting for one of my competitors. They say that I am infringing a particular patent/design/trade mark – what can I do?

The first thing to do is to engage professional patent or trade mark attorneys to review the alleged infringement. We do not recommend responding to the letter before having it reviewed professionally, since you may put yourself at a disadvantage by doing so. As mentioned above, infringement is rarely clear-cut, and it may be that you arguably do not infringe. In any case, knowing the strength of your position can be advantageous if there are negotiations to be had further down the line.

For more information, please see the ‘defending an infringement action’ section.

If you would like further information, please email us directly here, call +44 (0) 1242 691 801 to speak to a qualified British and European Patent attorney, or fill in the form below to ask an expert about your IP strategy.