Setting your IP GOAL – Avoiding IP rights of others

Setting your IP GOAL – Avoiding IP rights of others
January 10, 2014 sandersons

The importance of developing an IP strategyIntellectual Property (IP) rights can be a powerful tool for your business, but also for your competitors’ businesses!

Your business needs to be aware of what other people are doing so that you can avoid infringing their IP rights, find ways to work with them or oppose their rights when necessary.

It is important to have a  complete strategy for your business when it comes to IP.  At Sandersons. we believe that a comprehensive IP strategy should consider four main areas:

In this four-part series of blogs we will explain how we can help you to achieve your IP GOAL.

In our previous post we discussed Obtaining IP rights.  This week we discuss ways in which Sandersons can help you with Avoiding the IP rights of others.

Passive Approach

Do you know what IP rights your competitors have?

If you are aware of your competitors’ IP rights, then you can be in a better position to avoid infringing those rights. Intellectual Property searches for existing IP rights are a good starting point to enable you to identify the IP rights of others. These searches can be tailored to a particular product or brand and to particular competitors.

As well as carrying out IP searches, Sandersons can also monitor the various IP offices’ registers for IP rights being granted to your competitors.

We can help you to identify IP rights that may affect your business, and help you to avoid those rights by suggesting ways to “work around” them.

Collaborative Approach

Can you reach a compromise? Would licensing be a solution?

We understand that sometimes it is not possible or desirable to work around the IP rights of others. In these cases, you may be able to seek a licence or assignment of the IP rights in question.

Sandersons can co-ordinate the negotiation of licences or assignments of IP rights, and we can be on hand to review licence and assignment agreements to ensure that they are suitable for your needs from an IP perspective.

Pro-active Approach

Is further action needed?

IP rights are not infallible and it may be that the IP rights granted to your competitors should not have been granted to them. At Sanderson & Co. we can help you to challenge the IP rights of others either at the IP office in question or during court proceedings.

For example, European patents can be opposed during the nine months following grant of the patent. Trade Mark applications can also be opposed after registration. Sanderson & Co. can file these oppositions so that spurious IP rights can be cancelled. We can also assist with providing arguments to present before or during court proceedings.

The above are just some of the ways in which Sandersons can help you to achieve your GOAL of a comprehensive IP strategy.

If you would like any advice regarding Generating IP or any of the other topics in this series of blogs, then do not hesitate to contact Sandersons to book a free 30-minute consultation. Please remember to mention this blog when booking your consultation.

In our next piece we will be discussing Leveraging your IP rights.