Registrations

IP Rights and Registrations

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Strategic guidance on identifying, selecting and securing the IP rights that will drive your business forward

Informed and Strategic Advice

At InHouse IP we never advise without understanding your business goals and how you intend to meet them.  Once we understand these, we identify the correct selection of IP rights that will advance those goals.  We believe that every intellectual property right should serve a clear purpose within a business, so that the business owners can make sound decisions as to what to invest in and why.

IP Registrations

What are intellectual property rights?

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If your materials and ideas are capable of being replicated  - perhaps at low cost to the copier – or if you need to use materials and ideas created by other people to reach your business goals, then you have a business need to understand and deploy intellectual property rights.   Put simply, intellectual property rights are rights created by government to allow businesses to control the way other people use their materials and ideas.

Differences between the IP Rights

Whilst all intellectual property rights allow you to control the way other people use materials and ideas, each one does a different job and brings different kinds of protection to its owner.

Some rights last for as little as 3 years, many others for between 10 and 20 years and some forever if used and renewed periodically.

Some are tailor made to protect scientific advances (patents), others protect software, designs or creative materials (copyright, unregistered and registered designs) - and each idea or object may be protected by overlapping IP rights.

Some belong, by default, to the individual who created them, others with the business that invested in them. Finally, some IP rights exist only once entered on a register (patents, trade marks and registered designs), others exist automatically upon creation or publication (copyright, unregistered designs, confidential information / trade secrets).

Rights needing registration versus automatic IP rights

The Registration Approach

Patents, trade marks and registered designs

Advantages

✓ Once you have them you enjoy wide monopoly rights

✓ Your registration certificate creates powerful evidence that the rights are valid and you own them

Disadvantages

✓ There is a cost associated with registration

✓ The public nature of the registration exercise

The Automatic Approach

Copyright, designs, confidential information

Advantages

✓ Protection against third party copying

✓ No cost in obtaining rights

Disadvantages

✓ There are greater evidential burdens to prove that the rights exist, that you own them and that they are valid

 ✓ You need to create and monitor your evidence from the point of creation onwards

✓ No absolute monopoly

IP Registrations

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Our Services

IP challenges: disputes, deals and registrations

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Craft Your IP Deals

Deals and contracts that lead to success and mitigate risk

✓ Prepare for Growth
✓ Allocate Risk
✓ Plan for the Future

Find Out More
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Manage Your Disputes

Proactive management of disputes and technical expertise to turn problems into solutions

✓ Proactive Dispute Resolution Strategies
✓ Support Tailored to your Business
✓ Cost Effective Solutions

Find Out More
A person's hand signing a registration document with a pen on a desk.

Optimise Your IP Registrations

IP rights and registrations should be secured before tensions or disputes make them more difficult to obtain

✓ Rights You Can Register - Patents, Trade marks and Registered Designs
✓ Strategies For Your Budget
✓ Unregistered rights - copyright, designs, confidential information, database rights

Find Out More

What people say about us

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  • “Lindsay worked with Lush for over a decade at a time when the business was rapidly growing its overseas businesses. She adopted a positive, respectful but also clear and consistent negotiation stance. We placed our trust in Lindsay to craft and implement a complex IP reorganisation exercise which has stood the test of time. She fully embraced the rapid decision-making and execution that characterises Lush as an entrepreneurial business. We would strongly recommend using Lindsay for IP deals. into the test.”

    — Karl Bygrave
    Director, Lush Cosmetics Ltd

  • “Tom is highly knowledgeable, experienced and passionate when it comes to IP law to say the least. He is also an absolute pleasure to work with, extremely efficient in terms of how he conducts his work and manages workload excellently providing required documents whilst keeping you updated throughout. I’ve hopped firms several times to work with him. His work speaks for itself and I therefore recommend him to anyone looking for an IP lawyer.”

    — Marcus Pheonix, Candy Castle Animation Ltd

  • “As someone who was GC at a former client of Lindsay Gledhill where we were frequently expanding and creating new subsidiaries, I can say that her knowledge and creativity in IP is unmatched. Smart, creative and just fantastic to work with.”

    — Jason R. Noto, Counsel
    Polsinelli Law Firm

  • “Lindsay has been with i-to-i throughout its journey from 2000 right up to 2024. During that time she has guided us on cost-effective trade mark strategy as part of crucial brand strategy. As CEO of i-to-i and its group companies, I knew I could rely on Lindsay absolutely to find a cost-effective commercial resolution to all our trade mark dilemmas both in the UK and as we expanded overseas and sought to protect our destination markets. We made sound decisions because of her advice and I would highly recommend her!”

    — Gordon‍ Director,
    Teach and Travel Group/i-to-I

  • “As a one-person team, I knew we would need some help for our intellectual property needs. Lindsay has been acting as an extension of my own team and with her help, we have been able to see off oppositions and defend them within budget and without the need for litigation.”

    — Wendi Higgins
    Chameleon Technology UK Ltd

  • “I worked closely with Lindsay as US counsel on a global trademark dispute for an iconic British brand. Lindsay led the matter superbly, developing overall strategy, facilitating cross-border communications as needed, and keeping an eye on value and cost. Due to her skills and judgement the matter - which had been simmering for decades - resolved decisively and favourably.”

    — Julia Markley
    Perkins Coie, Firm-wide Co-Chair, Litigation Practice

  • "InHouse IP is based at the St John's Innovation Centre and Lindsay was introduced to me by Richard Carey-Evans who works there for Innovate UK. At that point I'd spoken to around 3 or 4 IP firms and I wasn't really sure if I needed to speak to another (although I was still confused!) - but I am so glad I did. Lindsay immediately had a different approach from the others l'd spoken to and really took the time to understand what I'm trying to build. She totally gets what early stage Founders like me need and offers bespoke advice and solutions that don't try to fit everyone into the same boxes. For me, that meant I ended up spending less money but feeling more supported and confident in the decisions I'd made around IP."

    — Elisabeth Whitebread Markley
    Founder, NappyLoop