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Intellectual
property
Overview - intellectual
property rights
Our solicitors work from offices in Bristol, England. We advise
a broad range of clients in Britain, Europe and around the world.
Solicitors here aim to give commercial clients the high quality
advice they need.
Intellectual
property rights are vital assets for many types of commercial concern.
IP and IT law is one of our core areas of practice. This introduction
is designed to give you an impression of what we can do in this
complex field.
Our solicitors
represent the interests of all kinds of companies, businesspeople
and professional correspondents for whom expertise and pragmatism
in advice on trade marks, patents, designs, copyright, know-how,
competition and trade secrets are essential requirements.
Registration,
maintenance, transfer, licensing, litigation: these are all aspects
of managing intellectual property in which solicitors here can supply
the experience, knowledge and clarity which clients require.
The quality
of our work depends upon the strengths of the solicitors within
the firm - people who have confidence in their skills and those
of the outside agencies they engage; people who handle issues in
a financially disciplined way. We are not a legal factory offering
a mass-produced product. We find that clients prefer an independent
approach. In our experience, effective personal case-handling is
more likely to produce commercially sound results.
Our position
Good lawyers:
We offer high calibre lawyers, with expertise in the applicable
areas of practice and a practical, constructive approach.
Clear communications:
Solicitors here try to open up the legal process in what are technical
and often difficult fields of law by giving advice and explaining
options to clients in a concise and positive way, identifying clear
courses of action.
Energy: The
pace of change in intellectual property law and procedure is testing.
We look to input not only careful legal work but also the determination
to keep transactions and litigation up to speed. Solicitors at Humphreys
& Co. aim to focus on the job of advancing clients' real business
interest with energy and pragmatism.
Turnaround:
Our lawyers use appropriate information technology to ensure that
our advice and document preparation are efficient, accurate, relevant
and back to clients quickly. We are located close to the UK Trade
Marks, Designs and Patent office in Newport, Wales which can be
cost-saving for urgent filings and time-saving for hearings.
Correspondent
firms: Our solicitors are qualified in English and EU law. When
advice or action under other systems of law or in other professional
disciplines is needed we use the resources of suitably qualified,
independent correspondent firms. We are not restricted to choosing
colleagues to work with from the the limited membership of a formal
international association. In each case, we aim to look after clients'
interests by engaging on their behalf the right professional firms
at a cost appropriate for the job.
Available strategies
Solicitors at
Humphreys & Co. offer comprehensive support in all aspects of
IP and IT law. In the key areas:
Trade marks:
Brand strength can be crucial to success in the marketplace. Our
clients and international correspondent firms ask use to handle
on their behalf: registrations, oppositions and renewals; devising
and policing protection programmes; transfers of title; infringement
and passing-off procedures; revocation actions and challenges to
validity; as well as negotiating and documenting licence and franchise
arrangements.
Inventions and
know-how: Inventions are typically an apparatus, a product or a
manufacturing process. Often they can be monopolised by means of
patents, but by no means always. Commercial success in exploiting
an idea or using know-how to create opportunities requires legal
advice which is informed, well-presented and works for your business.
This is the service we aim to provide.
Copyrights and
designs: We have an active practice in the protection and licensing
of, as well as litigation about, copyrights and designs. These rights
relate to form and appearance rather than to technical principles
of construction. Our lawyers handle applications for those which
are registrable and advise on unregistrable rights which arise automatically.
Litigation:
Good litigators make court, arbitration and mediation procedures
work for their clients. They must be tenacious, flexible, able to
negotiate realistically and with sensitivity to the underlying commercial
issues. Good litigators are lateral thinkers with strong technical
abilities. Where heavy cases require it, they work in teams but
usually they know how to avoid the expense of the multi-lawyer approach.
Confidence and
trade secrets: Valuable assets do not always come pre-packed. Our
lawyers are used to working at the margins of intangible rights,
where duties of non-disclosure fade into the public interest in
commercial freedom, where hard-nosed dealing borders on shabby treatment.
The ability to take a realistic view of rights and obligations arising
from the communication of information is a product of experience.
Humphreys & Co. has the experience clients require, whether
in documenting agreements or taking injunctive action.
Competition:
The demands of fierce competition in the marketplace put pressure
on companies and individuals not only to perform but to succeed.
The regulatory framework at national and international level exists
to prevent anti-competitive practices. Our lawyers can advise on
all UK and EU aspects.
Combinations
Our solicitors
can supply the ability, precision and energy which companies, businesspeople
and correspondent firms need in a competitive world marketplace
to manage their intellectual property rights successfully, including
in relation to:
* computer
software
* confidential information
* copyrights
* database rights
* defamation and trade libel
* designs (registered and unregistered)
* employee obligations
* EU treaty regulations
* free trade
* information technology
* internet
* joint ventures
* know-how and show-how
* licensing and franchising
* litigation, arbitration, mediation
* media and publishing
* patents (licensing, transfer and litigation)
* passing off
* technology transfer
* trade marks
* unfair competition
©
Copyright Humphreys & Co., solicitors
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