Intellectual property law

Free movement of goods, services and technology is a key feature of the modern globalization. Economic development has led to legal reforms that facilitate trade and economic exchange. In the past two decades international transfer of technologies e.g. transfer of patents, copyrights, trademarks, or trade secrets and corresponding payments for royalties and licensing fees have increased dramatically. Thus, the protection of Intellectual property rights became a main concern for the businesses involved in this process.

International system of IP is composed of two types of law: national IP law that establish IP rights within each nation’s territories, and International and multinational IP treaties that establish the minimum standards for the IP laws in countries around the world and for the protection of those IP laws internationally.

Enforcement and administration bodies/agencies are different for each type of IP legislation.

1. For national IP legislative acts are local copyright, patent, and trademark offices, and
2. For International IP treaties is the WTO that administers the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement including disputes about country’s compliance with the minimum standards of TRIPS.

Our team with the outstanding knowledge of modern international system of the IP rights protection offers:

For patents:

Obtaining patent protection for our client’s inventions, both: locally and internationally. We work with foreign attorneys worldwide to prosecute and obtain foreign patent rights, oppose foreign patents, and defend foreign patents in opposition proceedings.

For trademarks:

Registration; protection and prosecution of our clients brand names and the goodwill they represent. Our trademark practice includes protecting a company’s marks, logos, colour schemes, product packaging, and designs.

Our services include: registration of trademarks, designs, patents, utility models; Administrative proceedings, including trademark oppositions and cancellation actions; Drafting of agreements relating to trademark licensing, concurrent use, and employee obligations; Litigation in enforcing trademark rights against infringers or in defending continued use of a mark in the face of charges of infringement.

For copyrights:

Protection for copyrights in works of authorship and artistic expression that includes: copyright registrations; Analysis of available international protection for copyrights; Opinions on infringement and freedom-to-use; Work-for-hire and employment rights agreements; Copyright use and licensing agreements; Publishing agreements; Litigation in pursuing copyright infringers or in defending against claims of infringement; Pursuit of copyright violations occurring on websites and “take-down” of the infringing materials on websites.

We have assisted companies in protecting their copyrights in a wide variety of works, including:

• Software
• Electronic databases
• Mobile apps, computer games, websites, and user interfaces
• Print and online publications
• Technical materials, instructional materials, product drawings, illustrations, and architectural plans
• Ornamental three-dimensional product configurations
• Works of art, music, and sound recordings

For licensing and contracts on the transfer of intellectual property rights (Technology transfer):

providing consultation on a single intellectual property-related aspect of a larger transaction to participating as a full member of the team that handles the transaction; Drafting the initial nondisclosure agreement and letter of intent through the negotiation, Drafting, and execution of the final licensing or sub-licensing agreements and other documentation for execution if transfer.