Venner Shipley on Trade Marks

A registered trade mark is an important tool for protecting not only your identity but also your hard earned reputation and the goodwill that has been built up with customers.

Experience

Venner Shipley has over 60 years of experience offering companies and individuals comprehensive advice and services relating to all aspects of trade marks. Our attorneys assist clients from the selection of a trade mark right through to policing and protecting their marks and reputation.

Our specialist team undertakes infringement clearance searching and provides advice on registrability. We provide assistance in the registration procedure all over the world and deal with contentious proceedings before the trade mark registries. We deal with licensing, assignment and settlement negotiations and advise on the exploitation and acquisition of trade marks, as well as attending to post-registration recordal procedures. Our attorneys prepare due diligence reports, provide watching services and work with Customs and Trading Standards Offices on criminal trade mark issues.

We also advise on both trade mark infringement and passing off and handle pre-litigation correspondence for potential claimants and defendants.

Expertise

Providing comprehensive advice on trade mark matters requires specialist legal expertise and commercial acumen. A number of our attorneys are non-practising solicitors, with strong legal backgrounds.

Our attorneys practice before the European Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, the UK Intellectual Property Office and at the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Our trade marks team advises on and handles actions relating to company names before the Company Names Tribunal. We also provide advice and services relating to trade marks all over the world through our international network of trade mark experts.

Our attorneys work with clients to build and maintain a comprehensive trade mark portfolio, liaising with our renewals department to ensure that intellectual property rights are appropriately managed.