Page Hargrave - Patent and Trademark Attorneys

Intellectual property includes patents, designs, copyright, registered trade marks and registered service marks. In addition, know-how and confidential information are sometimes regarded as forms of intellectual property.

As Chartered Patent Attorneys, Registered Trade Mark Attorneys and European Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys, much of our work involves applying to official organisations for patents and for registration of trade marks, service marks and industrial designs and progressing those applications.

In addition:

• We pay renewal fees on behalf of our clients, where required to maintain intellectual property rights;
• We advise clients on whether, in their particular circumstances, intellectual property rights could validly be obtained and/or enforced;
• We advise our clients on whether their activities are likely to infringe someone else's intellectual property rights or on whether any competitors' activities infringe any of our clients' own intellectual property rights;
• We advise on the licensing and assignment of such rights; and
• We conduct, or assist in conducting, litigation or opposition/revocation proceedings in the Courts and Patent and Trade Mark Offices in the UK and overseas.

Because no two intellectual property cases are alike, it is often difficult to predict the kind of problems which may arise and, therefore, the time we will need to spend on the work.

For example, when we represent a client who seeks to obtain a British or European patent or trade/service mark, the amount of work we need to do will depend ultimately on the attitude adopted by the Examiner in the relevant Patent Office. It is not always possible to gauge what objections will be raised by the Examiner and how easily we may be able to overcome those objections. Occasionally, the Examiner raises objections which we believe should never have been raised in the first place.

Consequently, it is not always possible to foresee whether an application will succeed or what our charges are likely to be.

When a new client approaches us with an intellectual property enquiry, we are prepared to spend up to about half an hour, free of charge, explaining the legal procedures involved in a particular case. We can also indicate approximate costs to a client. If a client decides to take matters further, and instructs us to carry out a specific task on his behalf, then we will charge for any work we do.

As intellectual property cases can remain active for several years, we normally charge clients at appropriate intervals rather than waiting until matters are concluded.

We are happy to undertake work for clients in any country of the world. However, please note that we must reserve the discretion not to extend credit to clients outside the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom Courts (see Terms of Business Nos. 6 and 7 below). Where credit cannot be extended, all our work would be on an advance-payment basis only.