Intellectual Property Disputes

Intellectual property (IP) is a valuable business asset which you will have worked hard to acquire. It comprises your brand, you know-how, any original or novel creations you have devised and any new or revolutionary way of doing things you have invented.

It is something that makes your business unique but also highly susceptible to the risk of attach as rival businesses seek to piggyback off your success by stealing your ideas, copying what you do or trying to pass their products off as their own. You may even find yourself faced with a competitor who alleges that they came up with an ideafirst and who accuses you of trying to capitalize on their creativity.

Dealing with IP issues can be difficult but is something the dispute resolution team at IMD Solicitors are here to help you with.

Drawing on years of experience spent supporting businesses throughout the UK and beyond, our specialist intellectual property lawyers can assist with the defense and enforcement of your IP rights and in the resolutions of a wide range of IP disputes.

We deal with all intellectual property types, including copyright, patents, trade marks, design rights, database rights, confidential information and trade secrets.

Service offering

Our UK offices are located in Manchester, Birmingham and London.

• sending cease and desist letters to individuals and businesses suspected of infringing activities, which can be highly effective in bringing most low-level illegal activity to an end.
• issuing proceedings in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court or the Chancery Division of the High Court to deal with higher value, contested cases or those where an injunction is needed, for example to bring alleged violation to an immediate halt to recover confidential information;
• securing compensation where the reputational or economic damage caused by infringing activities is more than notional;
• exploring alternative dispute resolution options where you wish to keep an IP dispute out of the court arena, including mediation, adjudication, arbitration and expert determination;
• highlighting where a criminal offense may have occurred that could offer you an alternative route to bringing any illegal activity to an end, for instance where your goods have been counterfeited;
• providing representation before the UK and European Intellectual Property Offices, for instance where a patent dispute results in a rival business seeking to have your patent rights revoked or where objections are raised over the registration of IP rights;
• assisting you to resolve disputes in respect of unregistered design rights which need to be dealt with via a common law passing off action; and
• assisting you to resolve IP licensing and warranty claims, including those where the terms of a