Intellectual Property
Your innovative ideas need expert protection. Whether you are a start-up business growing, or you are a large multinational, protecting your intellectual property effectively means protecting your profit and shareholder value.
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Your IP protection and enforcement strategy should be as sophisticated as and align with any other strategic consideration in your business; it should not only protect your IP assets effectively, but also be future proof and commercially sound.
We pride ourselves on giving practical, no-nonsense advice in relation to all elements of intellectual property – trade marks, copyright, design rights, registered design, patents, confidential and trade secrets – and are dedicated to helping clients achieve a watertight IP strategy.
Our specialist in-house trade mark team are well-equipped to service clients’ national and international trade mark and registered design portfolios.
Key intellectual property services
Managing your intellectual property
- IP audit
- IP strategy
- Business objectives and financial budgeting
- IP corporate governance
- Buying and selling IP assets
- Trade mark and registered design portfolios
- Exploiting your intellectual property
- Protecting your brand name or trade mark
- Copyright
- Database right and data protection
- Confidentiality
- Registered and unregistered design right
- Expanding into a new territory
- Licensing your IP or obtaining an IP licence
- Employees and IP ownership issues
- IT and technology agreements
Defending your intellectual property
- If you think a third party is using your IP
- If you have received a ‘cease and desist’ letter
- Negotiating co-existence agreements
- Settling IP disputes
- Trade mark opposition proceedings
- Trade mark invalidity proceedings
- Licensing your IP or obtaining an IP licence
Examples of intellectual property cases
- Settlement of a partnership dispute concerning ownership of IP. The client had been threatened with having to stop use of the partnership IP- we negotiated a settlement in our client’s favour enabling her to continue to use the IP she had created and continue the business in the future.
- Licensing client software to the military. The client had been presented with a huge contract and was struggling to wade through it and understand it. We walked the client through the obligations and liabilities and successfully negotiated various amendments which restricted our client’s liability to an appropriate level and ensured that all IP rights were retained by our client thereby allowing the client to licence the software to other customers.
- Settling a patent dispute for a client – the client’s former co-director had forced him out of the business and was continuing to use his patented products without any recompense. We successfully negotiated a settlement, purchase of our client’s shares for value and put in place a proper licence agreement, recouping significant backdated royalties and ongoing royalty payments for many years to come.
- Management of the client’s global trade mark portfolio – we liaise with international agents on our client’s behalf, keep on top of the renewal dates, deal with international oppositions and file new trade marks.
In-House Counsel
Our team of experienced lawyers is well-equipped to support you in various ways. Whether you require advice on a specific issue, additional resources due to capacity constraints, or a second opinion, we are here to help. Explore our legal counsel page for more information and details on our schedule of seminars, specifically designed for in-house counsel.
How we work with you
Whilst based in the South of England, Paris Smith acts for businesses and families throughout the UK. Technology has enabled us to provide a high level of service to our clients whether they are local to our offices or not. Our advice can be given in many ways:
- Over the telephone
- Via video conferencing
- In face to face meetings
We will talk through how you would like to be contacted and the best ways for us to meet in our early conversations with you.
Get in touch to speak with an expert.
Introducing your key contact
Celia Lloyd Davidson
Partner – Head of Intellectual Property and Art
Celia Lloyd Davidson
Partner – Head of Intellectual Property and Art
How we’ve helped our clients
Legal 500 – 2025 Edition
Following the departure of former practice head Laura Trapnell to Trethowans LLP, Paris Smith LLP‘s Southampton-based IP team is led by Crispin Dick, specialising in commercial IP issues such as product licensing work, naming agreements and sponsorship mandates. The team has experience in maintaining trade mark portfolios and handles oppositions to third party applications and renewals, often with a cross-border element. Celia Lloyd Davidson has recently joined the firm.
Paris Smith LLP dispenses specialist advice to SMEs in the region on a full range of matters including procurement projects, system integration and development, Saas subscription contracts, IT outsourcing, post-M&A IT separation issues, and data protection compliance, among others. Practice head Crispin Dick is highly experienced on commercial and IT matters. Ryan Mitchell is another important name of note on the team.
What clients say:
‘Crispin Dick has excellent industry knowledge and did not just help us draft our necessary legal documents but also alerted us to other potential pitfalls. Being a company centred around the use of AI, we are determined to do it legally and well. Crispin was able to guide us adequately.’
‘Excellent client service and responsiveness. Always commercially focussed and delivered in a timely manner. We have worked with Crispin for a number of years and he is an invaluable support on all our in-house legal work.’
‘Crispin Dick is outstanding in his delivery of timely and commercial advice. We are extremely grateful for the work that Crispin and his colleague Ryan Mitchell have done to support our business over recent months whilst our business has been entering into a number of new commercial contracts.’
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