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When brand development can be a warzone it's vital that every General has a battle plan
Every day, businesses across the globe invest significant sums of money in building brands and launching products that have shaky foundations. Often, entrepreneurs and business owners are unaware of the risks until they find shots are being fired at them. Large companies are often willing to take on the fight since they have the necessary resources, but for some small businesses with less resources it can be a fight for their life…
Let it go!
Keeping an IP budget afloat despite sunk costs. The cost of securing IP can be heavily front loaded. Examples of such costs include patent drafting, pre-filing searches, filing fees, etc. These costs become “sunk” costs in that they cannot be recovered. Because IP protection can be a relatively long process, at any time during the process there are likely to be significant “prospective” costs: future costs that may be wholly or partially avoided depending on actions taken.
UKIPO ending temporary fee changes on 31 March 2021
The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) temporarily reduced or removed certain official fees associated with patents, trade marks and registered designs because of the disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. However, the temporary fee changes are set to end on 31 March 2021.
Insurance for IP Litigation Costs
If you own any intellectual property (IP) rights, are you concerned about your exposure to litigation, and how you will finance any legal action? One way to address this concern is by means of an insurance policy.
Does owning IP rights improve economic performance?
A recent study performed by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has shown that companies which own at least one patent, trade mark or registered design generate on average 20% higher revenues per employee and pay their staff on average 19% higher wages compared to companies that do not own any of these intellectual property (IP) rights.
Turkish Declarations of Use
Have you recently validated your European patent in Turkey? Did you know that in addition to paying annual renewal fees, Turkish law also requires you to submit a public declaration stating whether you have actively worked your invention in Turkey?
Managing your business-critical IP during the COVID-19 crisis
UK businesses are fighting for survival during the continuing COVID-19 outbreak and trying to trade under difficult conditions, the likes of which haven’t been seen in the living memory of most business people. If you’re afraid that your business is going to the wall, it probably isn’t the top of your mind to pay for a patent application for your new technology or a registration of the trade mark for your brand new clothing range, right? Where is the money coming from to invest in such luxuries as IP, we hear you say, when staff are being furloughed and orders have been postponed?
Changes to trade mark and patent law in Gibraltar
In October 2020, the UK Government declared that the territorial effect of five important IP treaties would be extended to cover Gibraltar from 1 January 2021. These treaties are the Paris Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Madrid Protocol (on International trade marks), the Nice Agreement (on trade mark classification), and the Berne Convention (on copyright). Following on from this, a bill was passed in on 11 December 2020, making some amendments to trade mark and patent law in Gibraltar.