Intellectual Property Lawyers
Intellectual property is an intangible asset that provides your business with a competitive advantage within its market sector.
Whether you create, use, or license intellectual property, protecting these rights is essential to safeguarding your brand, innovation and commercial success.
Your intellectual property is a valuable asset that requires careful protection, whether you’re creating, using, licensing or enforcing your rights.
Our experienced intellectual property lawyers help businesses safeguard their IP in the UK and internationally. If your organisation faces an IP dispute, we provide clear, strategic advice to resolve issues efficiently and protect your interests.
As specialists in intellectual property law, we support businesses and institutions across a wide range of industries. We work with regional corporates, multinationals, schools, universities, further education colleges, charities, family businesses and public sector bodies.
As founding members of the Association of European Lawyers, we also have a trusted network of IP lawyers worldwide, ensuring you have the right support wherever your business operates.
With in-depth sector knowledge and a client-focused approach, we provide tailored legal solutions to help you maximise and protect your intellectual property.
Our expertise
Our team will help you identify your core business intellectual property rights, ensure that these rights are properly protected, managed, and enforced, giving you confidence in your rights and the value of your assets.
We can support you on:
Your brand is one of your most valuable assets, and protecting it is crucial. We help with trade mark registration (UK and international), enforcement, licensing and disputes, ensuring your brand remains protected.
If another business misrepresents its goods or services as yours, it can damage your reputation. We are able to take swift legal action to prevent and stop passing off, protecting your market position.
Creative works, from literature and music to software and marketing materials, all have the potential to attract copyright protection. We advise on copyright ownership, clearance, strategy, infringement and licensing your copyright assets to ensure that you maximise their value.
There are various ways in which the unique appearance of your product can be protected. We help clients navigate the complex matrix of legislation that protects UK designs, providing support on the registration and protection of your designs, and preventing others from copying or misusing them.
Innovation drives success, and securing patent protection over your inventions is key to avoiding the exploitation of the underlying intellectual property as well as securing any future investment. We can support you through the application process, working alongside patent experts in your chosen field, and advise on ownership challenges and complex patent licensing arrangements.
If you’ve invested time and resource in the creation of a valuable database, it is important that your business is able to secure a return on this investment. We can help you identify your database rights and prevent unauthorised use of your data.
Your online presence is vital, and domain name disputes can threaten your brand. We help secure, recover and defend domain names against misuse.
As a creator, you have the right to be recognised for your work. We ensure your moral rights are upheld, preventing unauthorised changes or misattributions. We also regularly advise clients on securing the waiver of moral rights to avoid future infringement claims.
Musicians, actors, and other performers deserve control over how their work is used. We advise on the complex mix of rights in performances (known as performers' rights), providing guidance on the how best to protect these rights, how to avoid third party infringement claims, on contracts and commercial agreements that involve performers' rights and the enforcement of your performers' rights.
Trade secrets and sensitive business data must be safeguarded. We help implement legal protections, enforce confidentiality agreements and take action against breaches.
Why choose VWV?
Our team is able to advise across the full range of UK IP rights (including patents, design rights, copyright, confidential information, unregistered and registered trade marks) and is in fact uniquely placed in having its own in-house trade mark team.
We are increasingly finding that our clients are looking to diversify or expand into new territories. Our wealth of experience, coupled with the support of our extended network of preferred overseas IP specialists, means that we are able to add value by providing comprehensive guidance in relation to clearance of third party rights across multiple jurisdictions and advising on the most effective strategy for trade mark protection working against the client's operational time pressures.
Frequently asked questions on trade marks
A trade mark is a sign which is used to differentiate the goods or services of one trader from another. It is a 'badge of origin'. Names, logos, straplines and even colours and smells are capable of being registered as trade marks.
A trade mark designates the commercial origin of a product or service, whereas copyright protects expressions of originality, for example in the form of literary, artistic or musical works. Copyright will arise automatically in the UK when conditions for protection are met, whereas trade mark registration must be proactively sought. It is possible for both trade mark rights and copyright to exist together, for example in a logo.
No. It is a common misconception that registering a company name at Companies House also provides trade mark protection and protects the company name and reputation from infringers.
As soon as possible (even before you start using it).
Before you do or say anything to the alleged infringer you should seek legal advice, as there are laws that mean you could end up being sued.
You can instruct a professional (e.g. a lawyer) to conduct formal trade mark searches. You can also carry out informal searches on Google or using the UKIPO trade mark search facility.
In the UK it can take around 3-6 months from the filing date of your application for it to mature to registration, assuming that no issues or oppositions are raised.
There is no single global trade mark application scheme that enables you to register a trade mark in every territory in the world. Trade mark protection is territorial and must be effected on a territory by territory basis. Although there are international treatises that can help to streamline the application process in member territories (and assist in keeping costs proportionate), you still need to select the individual territories in which you wish to seek protection.
You should only use the ® symbol if your trade mark is registered. You can use the ™ symbol on unregistered trade marks.
It is possible to file a trade mark application without using a lawyer. However, using a lawyer (or, as a minimum, seeking legal advice on the key elements of the application) will help to ensure that the trade mark application is filed correctly, avoids the common pitfalls of DIY applications, and can even minimise the risk of potential issues (and additional costs) arising during the application process.
Seeking legal assistance will also ensure that the trade mark itself is protected in the form that gives you the widest protection, and that the application is future-proof, saving you money in the long run. We are experts in protecting trade marks - in delegating your trade mark protection to us, you are taking advantage of our skills so that you can focus on growing your business and the tasks at which you excel.
You should protect your trade marks in the territories in which you operate.
10 years. In the UK (and many international territories), this period is calculated from the filing date of the application, whereas in some territories the 10 year period is calculated from the registration date.
There are many restrictions on what can and cannot be registered as a trade mark. For example, your trade mark should not describe the goods or services for which it will be used (e.g. the word 'soap' cannot be registered as a trade mark in relation to soap), nor should your trade mark be misleading or offensive. For more information on restrictions please visit the UK Intellectual Property Office website. We can provide registrability advice if you are unsure whether your trade mark can be protected.
We offer fixed fees for trade mark applications. Our fees cover all professional and registry fees for the whole application process: from the preparation and filing of your trade mark application through to registration (providing everything runs smoothly and no one objects to the registration of the trade mark). Our charges are transparent with no hidden extras.
Yes - if the domain name incorporates your business, trading or product name, we recommend that you protect your domain name as a trade mark.
Our work highlights
Working closely with the in-house legal team of a UK biomedical research institute (that works with organisations across both the academic and medical sectors, as well as industry) on the re-structuring of its relationship with one of its core funders. One of the key drivers behind the revised terms relate to the effective commercialisation of the life-changing research-generated IP. The depth of our experience means that we have been well placed to provide time critical legal support on the stages of the complex IP cross licensing and assignment provisions.
Acting for a leading South-West University in relation to its domestic and international trade mark portfolio, to include conducting a detailed trade marks audit, and preparing and effecting a comprehensive international trade mark protection strategy. Also providing project-focused trade mark advice to the University's research teams.
Advising a top London university in relation to the copyright implications of podcasting and related moral rights issues, with a specific focus on securing relevant consents and copyright owner acknowledgements.
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