A Guide to Protecting Your Brand through IP Laws

Stealing someone’s idea is as much of a crime as stealing a tangible asset. Since ideas in the business world can be worth large sums of money, it’s no small crime. Not only are you safeguarded from intellectual property (IP) theft, but you’re also entitled to financial settlements if somebody uses your original ideas.

So if laws are already in place to prevent this from happening, why do you need to take action to protect your brand? Proving a breach of IP laws is challenging, even for expert solicitors. Check out our blog post about how a multipronged approach, solicitor-approved, is the only way to keep your ideas yours.

Wembley Solicitors has skilled and experienced teams that can help enterprising individuals retain exclusive rights to their intellectual property by properly documenting the idea’s conception. We can also help you put the correct patents and trademarks in place to minimise the chances of having to litigate.

Here are a few ways in which you could lose out if you do this independently:

You May Miss Something…Or Someone

You might think that your IP is at risk from competitors and individuals outside of your business, but employees that you have on your payroll are just as much a threat. Especially when hiring creatives, you must include specific clauses in their contract about who owns their IP.

This means they can’t use ideas they put together for your business for personal gain or independent profiteering. To prevent this, you must identify the legal separation between ideas that belong to you and them, or you may face agreement disputes.

You May Fail to Account for Future Developments

There is a famed legal case in the publishing industry. Random House took Rosetta Books to court. The complaint here was that the latter had published eBook versions of books that Random House held the rights to.

However, Random Houses contracts did not mention eBook rights, as they were drafted before the invention of eBooks.

Following this landmark case, book contracts now include a clause about future technologies. Developments like this are not always foreseen, so it’s extremely helpful to have legal counsel help you create future-proof paperwork.

You May Open Yourself Up To Contract Disputes

If your brand is owned and operated by partners, you’ll have certain legal responsibilities to comply with if and when the partnerships break down. In this case, intellectual property rights will have to be divided like any asset. In the case of joint ideas and ventures, this can cause partnership disputes.

A solicitor can help you prepare for this by protecting all parties involved when putting together

Wembley Solicitors has expert solicitors in the UK who can file claims and, if necessary, litigate. We understand how valuable your intellectual property is, which is why, when you collaborate with us, we work hard to make sure your interests and your business interests are guarded.

With our advice, you don’t have to be concerned when you consider a partnership contract as a sole trader because we take full responsibility for getting the job done right. Our staff also includes divorce solicitors, immigration solicitors, and commercial lease solicitors. Drop us an email at info@wembleysolicitors.com or fill out our enquiry form, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.