The world of intellectual property can be complex and confusing and this course is designed to get you up to speed on the main types: what they are, how to protect and exploit your own intellectual property and how to avoid infringing someone else’s. This training course is a perfect one-day primer designed to make you feel like a ‘mini-expert’ in every area of intellectual property rights in both practical and commercial terms. By familiarising you with the most important legislation and case law, the course will also arm you with the ability to look up further questions yourself.
In addition, the day will offer an invaluable opportunity to ask the expert trainer about any particular issues that may affect you and your business and to interact with other delegates and learn from their experiences.
Why you should attend
- Learn about the main types of intellectual property rights
- Understand how to protect the intellectual property rights of your organisation
- Get to grips with legislative framework and case law for each type of intellectual property right
- Consider how to avoid infringing a third party’s intellectual property rights
- Get up to date with the latest law and practice
- Understand the pitfalls - and how to avoid them
- Master the differences between copyright and unregistered design rights
- Expand your knowledge of copyright, patents and trade marks
- Appreciate how useful trade marks can be to build a brand and denote the origin of your goods and services
- Understand the risks of sending infringement letters in terms of being countersued for unjustified threats - and see how the law is changing
- Discuss any issues you are facing with colleagues from other organisations to gain new ideas and perspectives
Certification:
- CPD: 6 hours for your records
- Certificate of completion
Course Content
Copyright
- Basics of copyright
- Existence, ownership and infringement
- Is a work capable of copyright protection?
- Is the work in a ‘fixed’ form?
- Does the work qualify for UK copyright protection?
- Is the work still protected by copyright?
- Who is the owner of the copyright?
- Will copyright be infringed?
- Primary infringement
- Secondary infringement
- Are there any defences to infringement?
- What remedies are available?
- Civil remedies
- Criminal remedies
- International considerations
- Berne Convention
- Universal Copyright Convention
- Exploiting copyright
- Assignment
- Licensing
Moral rights
- Types of moral rights
- Moral rights relating to copyright works
Database rights
- Is it a database?
- Does the database qualify for protection?
- Who is the owner of the right?
- How long does the right last?
- What protection does the right give the owner?
- Are there any defences to infringement?
- What remedies are available?
Design rights
- Registered design rights
- Is a design capable of registration?
- Registering a design
- Infringement
- Dealing with registered design rights
- Unregistered design rights
- Requirements for an unregistered design right
- Overlap between copyright and design rights
- Infringement
- Dealing with unregistered design rights
- Semiconductor topography rights
- EU design rights (registered and unregistered)
Patents
- Legal framework
- Is an invention patentable?
- Applying for a UK patent
- Applying for a patent under the EPC
- Applying for a patent under the PCT
- Infringement
- Dealing with patents
- Where is the Unitary Patent?
Trade marks
- Is a mark capable of registration?
- Registering a trade mark
- Protecting a trade mark
- Revocation and invalidity
- Dealing with trade marks
- Trade mark searches
- Other types of registrable marks
Course Provider
Mark Weston ,
Hill Dickinson LLPMark Weston is a partner at Hill Dickinson LLP where he is Head of Commercial Law (London), Information Technology Law and, Intellectual Property Law. Mark joined the firm in 2016 from Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP where for 12 years he was a partner and Head of the Commercial, Intellectual Property and Information Technology Group, before which he spent several years at Baker McKenzie. Mark’s practice covers both non-contentious and contentious matters in all areas of commercial law, intellectual property law, information technology law, Internet, digital and privacy/data law. He specialises in commercial and tech issues. He has extensive experience in-house, having been seconded in the past to Hewlett Packard and new technology companies. His practice covers all sorts of commercial areas (including distribution, agency, franchising, sales and marketing strategies, advice and documentation) as well as extensive IT niches including advising clients regarding hardware and software issues (including SaaS, cloud, development, licensing, maintenance and distribution), solutions for and methods of transacting on the Internet, electronic commerce including B2B, B2C and B2G, S-commerce and M-commerce, social media, strategies to minimise or maximise liability and carry out compliance audits, outsourcing, facilities management, procurement, company IT policies and data protection (privacy) issues. He also has experience in IT litigation (and different alternative dispute resolution techniques). Mark writes various books on his specialist topics and is an editor and contributor to several publications and articles and lectures at numerous commercial, IP and IT-related conferences and training programmes. Mark appears regularly on BBC1 (usually providing advice on-screen to BBC Watchdog) and also on Sky News as a legal commentator.
Who Should Attend
This programme has been specifically designed for those who deal with or come across intellectual property:
- In-house lawyers
- Private practice lawyers
- Commercial managers
- Business development managers
- In-house patent lawyers
- Company secretaries
