Of all the IP laws, copyright is the most wide-ranging in scope and application. However, there is confusion as to whether copyright protects underlying ideas. Does it protect ideas incorporated in a piece of writing, or a...

When a key player in the Government’s plans to strengthen the IP framework, encourages business owners to file their own trade marks, explaining this is to help them afford trade mark registration, I wonder what’s...

Lawyers are expensive, particularly if you are in dispute with someone. However, because prevention does not sell, many small business owners tend not to use lawyers except when they are unfortunate enough to face litigation....

In business, contracts and agreements are part of daily life. Consulting a lawyer to draft all your agreements can be expensive, so in practice, only bigger businesses have the resources to get legal advice every time they...

Copyright offers crucial protection to individuals and businesses alike enabling them to own and exploit their creative works. This might include photographs, articles, software, website designs, films, music and a range of...

Nowadays there is increasing awareness about the value of “intellectual property” and brands. Yet “intellectual property” is a term that alienates many people because they don’t understand what it...

Key to Apple’s surging popularity have been the ease of use of its products and software, and seamless integration between its devices and services.

Arguably unique in the personal computer industry, Apple exercises strict...

December 1, 2009

When I wrote the introduction to my proposed new book in early November Why Web 2.0 Brand Protection Requires Online Brand Promotion, I hoped to publish this chapter shortly afterwards.  Needless to say, life got in the...

Websites, iPad apps, accounting systems, and the software running on your home wireless router are all the result of an often considerable investment of time, money, skill and effort. In return, their creators are typically...

Intellectual property is the cornerstone of many modern businesses, and the law offers various mechanisms to safeguard know how, creativity, ingenuity and investment in reputation and marketing. A significant complexity when...

The Pirate Bay has been thrown into the limelight a number of times, not least following a legal battle over copyright infringement which resulted in jail sentences for the four site operators in April 2009 (though at the time...