Services

Intellectual Property Rights

Protection of rights on new ideas and technological knowledge is an area of growing importance to many businesses and individuals.

Before entering the business arena with a new idea, legal ownership and rights to the knowledge must be established. BIC can offer advice on the legal, commercial and strategic issues to be overcome:

Clarification of Ownership - If neglected or left in doubt, this can lead to time-consuming and expensive delays.

Investigation of Clients Expectations - Clarity and definition as to exactly how much clients are prepared to invest in protecting and then developing the idea.  It may prove that the likely returns will not repay the investment

Strategic Considerations - Where will client companies be in 1,3 and 5 years?  Expanding, consolidating, or changing direction to serve new markets?

A Clear Legal/Contractual Framework - Protecting an idea, developing an idea or entering a product or brand licensing agreement.  The field of intellectual property rights is complex, encompassing patents, registered trade marks, copyright, design right and registered designs.

Patents - Granted for new products, manufacturing processes or for improvements on existing technology. Searches are available to check whether work has already been done or whether you are likely to infringe on someone else's patent

Registered Trade Marks - Which can last initially for ten years, comprise words, slogans, logos, or even three dimensional shapes and colours.

Registration of Designs - Copyright and design right registration of designs are available. However these are somewhat less crucial as copyright and design right does not necessarily require registration.

This service is featured in the following case studies: