Trademark Registration and Protection

National and International Registration Strategy

We advise on the most cost-effective registration strategy for your trademark, balancing national filings, regional registrations (EUIPO), and international Madrid Protocol applications to achieve the broadest protection at the lowest cost.

EU Trademark via Single EUIPO Application

A single EU Trademark application filed at the EUIPO provides trademark protection across all 27 European Union member states, offering exceptional value for businesses with significant European market presence or ambitions.

Madrid Protocol International Registration

The WIPO Madrid Protocol allows a single trademark application based on a home country registration to designate protection in over 130 member countries, providing an efficient and cost-effective route to international trademark coverage.

Opposition and Cancellation Defence

Trademark applications face opposition from third parties, and registered trademarks can be challenged for cancellation. We advise on responding to oppositions, defending cancellation actions, and filing opposition proceedings against conflicting applications.

PCT International Patent Application

A PCT application filed through WIPO establishes a single international filing date and extends to over 150 member countries, giving inventors up to 30 months from priority date to assess commercial potential before committing to national phase examination costs.

Prior Art Search and Patentability Assessment

Before investing in patent filing, a thorough prior art search establishes whether the invention is novel and inventive relative to existing published knowledge, providing a realistic assessment of the likelihood of patent grant and the scope of protection achievable.

Freedom-to-Operate Analysis

A freedom-to-operate analysis assesses whether a proposed product or process infringes any in-force third-party patents in the target markets, identifying potential infringement risks before commercial launch and enabling informed decisions on licensing or design-around strategies.

Patent Portfolio Management and Maintenance

We manage patent portfolios for corporate clients including annual renewal fee payment scheduling, strategic decisions on which patents to maintain or abandon, and identification of licensing, monetisation, and enforcement opportunities across the portfolio.

Automatic Protection on Creation vs Voluntary Registration

We advise on the differences between automatic copyright protection under the Berne Convention and the additional benefits of voluntary registration in jurisdictions such as the USA and China, helping clients decide where registration is commercially worthwhile.

Work for Hire and Assignment Documentation

Copyright in works created by employees and contractors does not always vest automatically in the commissioning business. We advise on work-for-hire clauses, copyright assignment agreements, and the documentation required to establish unambiguous corporate ownership of all copyright in commissioned works.

Software and Database Copyright Protection

Software source code and databases attract copyright protection in most jurisdictions. We advise on the scope of software copyright, open source licence compliance obligations, software copyright assignment in corporate transactions, and protection of database rights under EU legislation.

Copyright Licensing and Royalty Arrangements

We advise on the structuring of copyright licensing agreements, including exclusive and non-exclusive licence terms, territory, permitted uses, royalty calculation methods, sub-licensing rights, and the termination and reversion of rights provisions.

EU Registered Community Design via EUIPO

A single EU Registered Community Design application at the EUIPO provides design protection across all 27 EU member states at a single low fee, making it an extremely cost-effective tool for businesses selling designed products in the European market.

Hague System International Registration

The WIPO Hague System allows a single design application to designate protection in over 90 member countries, providing an efficient international design registration route for manufacturers selling designed products across multiple global markets.

25-Year Maximum Protection Period

EU Registered Community Designs provide up to 25 years of protection from filing date, renewed every five years, giving designers and manufacturers long term exclusive rights over the visual appearance of their products in the world's largest consumer market.

Design vs Patent vs Trademark Strategy

Many product features can be protected by more than one form of IP right. We advise on the optimal mix of design registration, patent protection, and trademark registration for each product, maximising the breadth and duration of intellectual property protection at reasonable cost.

Exclusive vs Non-Exclusive vs Sole Licence Structures

We advise on the commercial and legal implications of exclusive, non-exclusive, and sole licensing structures, ensuring the licence terms correctly reflect the agreed commercial bargain and appropriately protect the licensor's IP rights and ongoing business interests.

Royalty Rate Benchmarking and Transfer Pricing

Royalty rates in intercompany IP licences must comply with the arm's length standard under OECD transfer pricing guidelines. We advise on royalty rate benchmarking, royalty calculation methodologies, and transfer pricing documentation requirements for IP licences within multinational groups.

Offshore IP Holding for Royalty Tax Efficiency

Holding IP in a jurisdiction with an IP box regime (Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Switzerland) allows royalty income to be taxed at a substantially reduced rate, while royalty payments remain deductible in higher tax jurisdictions where the operating businesses are located.

Sub-Licensing and Quality Control Provisions

Where licensees are permitted to grant sub-licences, or where the licensor's trademark or brand standards must be maintained, we draft appropriate sub-licensing controls, quality standards, inspection rights, and approval processes into the licence agreement.

NDA and Confidentiality Agreement Drafting

We draft comprehensive non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements for employees, consultants, business partners, and prospective investors, ensuring all parties who receive access to confidential business information are legally bound to maintain its secrecy.

Employee Restraint of Trade Provisions

We advise on the design and enforceability of non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-poaching clauses in employment contracts and separation agreements, balancing adequate protection for the business against the legal limitations on restraint of trade in each relevant jurisdiction.

Trade Secret Misappropriation Response

When trade secrets are misappropriated by departing employees, former partners, or competitors, swift legal action is critical. We advise on emergency injunctive relief, civil damages claims, and criminal referrals for trade secret theft under applicable laws.

Operational Confidentiality Protocols

Reasonable steps to protect confidentiality are a legal prerequisite for trade secret protection. We advise on information classification systems, access control procedures, document marking policies, and cybersecurity measures that demonstrate the business treats the information as genuinely confidential.

Multi-TLD Domain Registration Strategy

We advise on proactive registration of all material brand-related domain names across priority TLDs including .com, national ccTLDs in key markets, and defensive registrations of common misspellings and variations, preventing cybersquatters from obtaining them.

UDRP Proceedings for Bad Faith Registrations

UDRP proceedings before WIPO provide a fast and cost-effective mechanism for recovering domain names registered by cybersquatters in bad faith. We advise on UDRP strategy, prepare the complaint, and manage the proceeding through to the domain transfer order.

Brand Monitoring for Domain Squatting

We advise on ongoing brand monitoring services that alert domain owners when new registrations are made incorporating their brand name or trademarks, enabling rapid enforcement action before cybersquatters establish active use of the infringing domain.

Domain Portfolio Maintenance and Renewal

Failure to renew a domain registration can result in the domain being acquired by competitors, cybersquatters, or domain resellers. We manage domain portfolio renewal schedules, ensuring no critical domain registrations lapse through administrative oversight.

Identification of All IP Assets

We systematically identify all registered and unregistered IP assets of the business, including patents, trademarks, copyright works, designs, trade secrets, domain names, software, and database rights, creating a comprehensive IP asset register.

IP Ownership and Title Verification

We verify that the business actually owns all the IP it believes it owns, reviewing employment agreements, contractor assignments, joint development agreements, and registration records to identify and remediate any title gaps or ownership ambiguities.

Licensing and Encumbrance Review

We review all IP licences, security interests, and encumbrances affecting the IP portfolio, assessing whether licence terms are commercially optimal, whether any licences have expired or been breached, and whether any licences would be triggered or affected by a corporate transaction.

IP Valuation for Transaction or Financing Purposes

Where a formal IP valuation is required for a transaction, financing, insurance, or transfer pricing purpose, we coordinate with specialist IP valuation experts to produce a valuation report applying recognised methodologies appropriate to the specific purpose and asset type.

IP Holding Jurisdiction Selection

We advise on the selection of the optimal IP holding jurisdiction based on the nature of the IP, the group's operating structure, substance requirements, treaty network needs, and the effective IP box rate achievable in each candidate jurisdiction.

Innovation Box and IP Box Regime Analysis

We compare the IP box and innovation box regimes in Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Cyprus, and other jurisdictions, analysing the qualifying IP categories, eligible income streams, effective tax rates, and substance requirements of each regime.

Nexus Requirement and DEMPE Function Compliance

OECD BEPS Action 5 requires that IP box benefits are linked to actual R and D expenditure and DEMPE (development, enhancement, maintenance, protection, and exploitation) functions performed by the IP holding entity. We advise on structuring compliant substance arrangements.

Transfer Pricing for IP Royalties

Royalties paid between related parties must be set at arm's length prices under OECD transfer pricing guidelines. We advise on royalty rate benchmarking, the preparation of transfer pricing documentation, and country-by-country reporting obligations for IP holding arrangements.

Cease and Desist Letters and Pre-Litigation Strategy

We draft cease and desist letters demanding that infringers immediately stop infringing activity, delete infringing content, provide information on the scope of infringement, and provide undertakings against future infringement, often resolving disputes without the cost of litigation.

Customs and Border Enforcement Measures

Rights owners can record their IP with customs authorities in most major jurisdictions, enabling border agencies to detain and seize shipments of counterfeit and pirated goods. We advise on customs recordation programmes and manage the border enforcement process.

Civil Litigation for Injunctions and Damages

Where cease and desist letters fail and infringement continues, civil litigation before courts can obtain injunctions preventing further infringement and damages compensating the rights owner for past infringement. We coordinate litigation strategy with specialist IP litigators.

International IP Enforcement Coordination

IP infringement often occurs simultaneously across multiple jurisdictions. We coordinate multi-jurisdictional enforcement campaigns, managing relationships with local counsel across all relevant jurisdictions and ensuring consistent enforcement strategy and messaging.

Income Approach (Discounted Royalty Method)

The income approach values IP by discounting the future income stream attributable to the IP, either through the relief-from-royalty method (estimating the royalties the owner saves by owning the IP rather than licensing it) or by directly forecasting future IP-derived cash flows.

Market Approach (Comparable Transactions)

The market approach derives IP value from the prices paid in arm's length transactions involving comparable IP assets. It is most commonly applied to well-established IP categories including software, trademarks, and patents where adequate comparable transaction databases are available.

Cost Approach (Replacement Cost)

The cost approach estimates IP value by reference to the cost of recreating or replacing the asset, typically used for early-stage IP where income-based methods lack a sufficient track record and for internally developed software and database assets.

Valuation for Transfer Pricing Documentation

Transfer pricing rules require that IP transferred between related parties, or royalties paid under intercompany IP licences, reflect arm's length values supported by contemporaneous valuation documentation. We coordinate IP valuations meeting OECD transfer pricing documentation standards.