Patents
Patents provide a limited term monopoly - in most European countries 20 years - in return for disclosing an invention to the public. Inventions are rarely the result of a sudden flash of insight. More often than not, the reality is a painstaking process of analysis, research, experimentation and sometimes failure before eventual success. This is the point at which the work needs to be fully protected. The objective is not simply to protect the inventor's specific solution but also to protect against what a competitor might try to do having seen the invention by applying it in a different way. This requires analysis of the invention in relation to what is already known, what the inventor has sought to achieve and the fundamentals of the solution. Most inventors naturally want to see their invention used to the full, so when the potential of an invention outstrips the resources of the inventor, licensing is an obvious route to consider.
Designs
Registered designs provide specific protection for the appearance of products or parts of products, packaging and graphic symbols. The term of a registered design in the United Kingdom is 25 years. Unregistered design rights also exist automatically in new designs subject to certain qualifications and provide short term protection without registration against reproduction of an article embodying the design. Our attorneys can advise clients on whether it is in their interests to register a design and what design rights they may be entitled to.
Copyright
Copyright gives automatic rights against copying to the originator of a wide variety of works - artistic works to the written word which includes computer software. However, following recent legislation, copyright can no longer be relied upon to protect industrial designs in the majority of cases. The firm is well versed in the complexities of copyright, and can advise on what form of protection is available and how it may be used.
Trade Marks
Trade marks - including brand names, house marks and service marks - are important long term assets for many clients. Trade mark registrations can be used to protect such assets. Their duration is not limited and will last forever, subject to renewal at appropriate intervals. However, if trade marks are not used properly and protected by registration they may become difficult to enforce against misuse by others. Boult Wade Tennant has wide experience of advising clients on the registration, licensing and enforcement of trade marks. The firm also advises on the proper use of trade marks to ensure that the value of a client's registrations increases over the years.
Confidential Information
Some clients may decide to keep a process or other sorts of know-how secret rather than protect it by way of a patent. Our attorneys can advise on the implications of doing this and how to keep the process secret, for example, by using confidentiality agreements.