London, Leeds & Exeter
Wed 8th Apr 2020
3 key tips for managing your intellectual property during the COVID-19 crisis
Services: Company and domain names, Design rights, International reach, IP portfolio management, IP strategy, Patents, Trade marks
Sectors: AI and data science, Brand owners, Chemistry, Cleantech and renewables, Electronics and telecoms, Fashion, Finance and insurance, Food and drink, Life sciences and health, Materials science, Mechanical engineering, Software patents
We hope that you are keeping well and are settling into this new way of working.
The teams at Page White and Farrer are working as normal in London, Leeds and Munich and we hope that you will not notice any difference in the service which you receive from us.
It seems that some of the Intellectual Property Offices are experiencing issues, but some have arranged extensions of deadlines. Some offices have closed. Problems are occurring in the courts where some hearings are being cancelled. Nevertheless, there are certain Intellectual Property Office deadlines that cannot be extended. Please do not assume a deadline has been extended, without checking with us first. Click here for details of recent notifications.
Meanwhile, here are three important recommendations from the teams at Page White and Farrer:
1). Keep to the current timetable
Unless you have heard from us to the contrary, we will be working to comply with the original deadlines to keep things on track - and we advise that you work in the same way.
If you envisage having a problem meeting a deadline, please let us know.
If oral proceedings, or a hearing is cancelled, we will let you know as soon as possible.
2). Take care with innovation capture
We understand that IP may not be at the forefront of your mind right now, but it remains one of your most valuable assets. Decisions you make today will have a long-term impact on your business, long after this crisis is over. Maintaining strong IP remains crucial to the medium and long-term success of any business seeking to commercialize their technical innovation.
Remember that, once the opportunity to protect an invention has gone, it is gone for good.
If your immediate cashflow has taken a hit, consider reaching out to one of our attorneys to discuss the minimum steps that can be taken to secure your IP for the future and that will allow you to bounce back on the other side.
Or, if you are in the fortunate position to be relatively unscathed by the immediate crisis, consider using any extra capacity you or your engineers might now have as an opportunity to focus on your business' IP, and talk to us about our scheme for remote patent training and innovation capture.
As Albert Einstein said: "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity."
3). Beware the opportunists
Fraudsters and counterfeiters love a crisis because it presents them with opportunities - and they may try and test the resilience of a business hoping that, with offices closed and most staff working from home, their actions might go unnoticed.
For advice on anything relating to intellectual property, please contact us on 020 7831 7929 or email web.enquiry@pagewhite.com.
This briefing is for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for legal advice relating to your particular circumstances. We can discuss specific issues and facts on an individual basis. Please note that the law may have changed since the day this was first published in April 2020.
