Intellectual Property

Rogers and Norton's Intellectual Property team deals with a wide range of contentious and non-contentious issues arising in connection with Intellectual Property rights.

Non-contentious Intellectual Property

The non-contentious side is dealt with by Richard Etheridge. This can be a significant aspect of the negotiation and drafting of business acquisitions and sales, joint ventures and partnerships and other corporate and commercial documentation as well as contracts specifically for the exploitation of Intellectual Property rights.

Our Intellectual Property team has wide ranging experience of dealing with disputes involving intellectual property infringement and the protection of reputation, both personal and business related.

Contentious Intellectual Property

Peter Hastings and Phil Kerridge deal with disputes concerning copyright, design right and trademark infringement and common law passing off, as well as confidential information and non – competition litigation both in the context of employment and commercial conflicts. This includes a number of urgent injunctive cases both with and without prior notice to the Defendant, including evidence protection and asset freezing orders.

Our commercial litigation and dispute resolution team have substantial experience of dealing with copyright infringement cases concerning business literature where the copyright issue is the legal lever in a wider business dispute about product or employee poaching. This has included the successful defence of contempt of Court proceedings arising from the alleged breach of undertakings given to the Court about the content of “similar” business literature.

Peter Hastings and Phil Kerridge have acted on protecting clients’ confidential information to include database protection and confidential information by way of high court injunctions.

We have also acted in connection with defamation and malicious falsehood or trade libel issues – again frequently in the context of wider business disputes where one party is said to be undermining the other’s brand, products or services. Peter also has experience of defamation cases for individuals involving press misreporting of tribunal proceedings.

Recent Cases Include:

• Anglian Windows Limited v Anglian Roofline Limited [2014] EWHC 4204 (IPEC) – a successful interim injunction application in the IPEC in relation to trade mark infringement and passing off.

• Confidential information Trade secrets / restrictive covenants
• Copyright
• Database Protection
• Defamation / trade libel
• Design right
• Employment Covenants and Breach of Confidence
• Passing off and unregistered trade marks
• Registered designs
• Registered trademarks
• Asset Freezing Orders