If you run a business, you need to know the basics of IP law or risk running into legal complications

Friday, 08 April 2016

Although intellectual property (IP) law is recognised as an increasingly important area of business law, many business owners or senior management of SMEs are still unaware of the full value of IP protection and the consequences of ignoring it.

By protecting brand names, logos and other IP, a business leader creates intangible assets that can become extremely valuable. Similarly, if IP concerns are not properly addressed, it can affect the business’s success later on. Shireen Smith, founder of leading London IP law firm Azrights, explains:

“If you run a business, you need to know the basics of IP law or risk running into legal complications. When you ignore IP you put your revenue streams at risk, and impact the value your business achieves on exit.

“As frustrating, annoying and distracting as it seems, SMEs encounter IP problems all the time. Competitors steal their market share, they receive cease and desist demands to rebrand, and they have their ideas stolen.

“And if you infringe on someone else's name or design, the repercussions are often expensive, distracting and even terminal for an SME to deal with.

“Without IP protection you’re a sitting duck.”

So how can business owners achieve their business goals and protect their revenue? Shireen continues: “The good news is there are simple but effective measures you can put in place to protect you from disputes that relate to IP Law.

“Even better, there’s an opportunity in all of this to enhance the value of your business and position it to earn money from its IP.”

Shireen Smith’s firm Azrights is a leading boutique law firm specialising in IP law for SMEs from start-up to £50 million in revenue. Azrights protects its clients from legal issues and adds value through IP ownership.

Each month Azrights runs a workshop on IP law for SMEs and entrepreneurs. It’s a small session for up to 10 people to attend. On Tuesday April 19 from 1.00PM to 3.00PM Shireen Smith and the Azrights team will be running a workshop entitled ‘Protect your Revenue: Protect your Intellectual Property’ at their Islington headquarters.

Aimed at the owners and leaders of SMEs and early stage businesses, the session costs £40 + VAT per person (or £25 + VAT for earlybirds) and includes sandwiches, refreshments and a copy of Shireen’s book ‘Intellectual Property Revolution’, which is also available from Amazon and is priced at £12.99. The book contains expert advice for businesses on how to successfully manage IP assets, protect brands and add value to businesses in the digital economy.

What does the workshop cover?

• The three key dangers of creating unprotected IP

• Why company and domain ownership do not give ownership rights over names

• How there is a lot more to IP protection than securing trade mark registration

• The 20% of actions you can take that give you 80% of the IP protection you need

• Real case studies and the learning points

WHEN

Tuesday, 19 April 2016 from 1:00PM to 3:00PM

WHERE

Azrights - 81-83 Essex Road Islington, London N1 2SF, United Kingdom

A video explaining more about how the digital economy is changing IP can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRa_8OVILUo.

Links:

Azrights website: http://azrights.com/

Azrights on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRa_8OVILUo

Azrights on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Azrights

Intellectual Property Revolution: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intellectual-Property-Revolution-Suc...

Tickets for the IP Workshop: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-protect-your-revenue...

ENDS

Photographs available on request. For further information about Shireen Smith and her new book please contact George Murdoch at george@famouspublicity.com or 03333 442 341 or Tina Fotherby on 07703 409 622 or tina@famouspublicity.com.

About Shireen Smith:

Shireen qualified as a solicitor in 1985 and began to focus on IP, IT, trade marks and copyright as an in-house lawyer at Reuters in the late 80s.

She has extensive practical experience of intellectual property and technology law and solid academic credentials, including a Masters in Intellectual Property law from QMW, London University. Shireen is consistently praised for the depth of her expertise and pragmatic, accessible advice.

Having developed a good grasp of the IP issues relevant to blue chip companies, she then applied that knowledge to working with start-ups and SMEs once she founded Azrights in 2005. Her company’s website is here: http://azrights.com