Alex McDonald, Intellectual Property Law Barrister
Intellectual property matters. Often businesses which do well have managed to do things in distinctive and original ways. Success often leads to imitation, so one of the greatest dangers a business may face is losing control over its intangible assets such as reputation and goodwill, brands, trade secrets and other proprietary knowledge.
Some intangible assets can be protected by established registration processes for trade marks, designs and patents.
However the protection of other intangible assets (for example, confidential business information, unregistered designs and new processes) requires careful management.
Businesses protect their intellectual property because it often gives them an edge over their competitors. Intellectual property can also offer potential additional revenue sources through licensing.
Although the protection of IP is of potentially crucial strategic importance to most businesses, often small firms are largely unaware of intellectual property protection and the relevance it has to their own business.
The key to understanding intellectual property is identifying and understanding the different intellectual property rights. Read more here about different intellectual property rights:
- Trade Marks | Read more
- Copyright | Read more
- Registered Designs | Read more
- Patents | Read more
- Domain Name Disputes | Read more
- Trade Secrets & Confidential Information | Read more
- Parallel Importation | Read more
- Plant Variety Rights | Read more
- Passing off and breach of the Fair Trading Act 1986 | Read more
“Alex was superb when LifeDirect recently had to manage a violation of our intellectual property. Her approach was analytical, meticulous, highly focussed and successful. From our initial contact through to the resolution of the case, I felt that we were dealing with the best possible person for the job.”