Whether it’s unregistered rights like the copyright in your website content, or formally registered intellectual property rights such as a trademark, patent or design – protecting it in the event of dispute could be crucial for you and your business.
Some intellectual property rights, such as copyright, are acquired automatically as soon as the copyrighted works are created. However, the question of who owns the copyright may not always be a straightforward issue, especially where you may have engaged a third party to create the copyrighted works.
Other intellectual property rights, such as patents, will only be acquired if they are successfully applied for. Others, like trademarks, may need to be formally registered in order to acquire protection, and they may need to be registered separately in different jurisdictions.
Depending on the nature of the infringement of your intellectual property rights, we can assist you with enforcing your rights through formal legal proceedings, informal negotiation, or one of the specialist forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for IPR disputes, such as the Nominet Dispute Resolution Service for domain name disputes.
While it is never recommended that you threaten to bring a legal claim that you know to be unjustified, there is legislation that specifically states that, in certain circumstances, an unjustified threat to bring IPR infringement proceedings against a third party can give rise to a claim against the IPR owner by the third party. It is therefore vital that legal advice is sought before making any threat to pursue legal action in relation to a suspected IPR infringement.
