Barnet does not look like a creative quarter, but intellectual property solicitors here are rarely short of work. Middlesex University at Hendon turns out designers, animators and film graduates, many of whom find work at the Elstree studios just over the Hertfordshire border and need to know who owns what they make. Golders Green and Hendon export kosher food brands whose names and packaging are their main asset. Finchley and Whetstone are full of consultancies, software developers and online retailers run from converted lofts, and the offices going up at Brent Cross Town are aimed at technology firms.
What an IP solicitor in Barnet actually does is mostly preventative: registering a trade mark at the UK Intellectual Property Office before a competitor does; checking that a new restaurant or brand name on Golders Green Road does not tread on someone else's; drafting the assignments that give a business ownership of the logo its freelance designer drew; writing licences for software, images and recipes; and putting non-disclosure agreements in place before an idea is pitched to investors. Copyright arises automatically, but proving who created a work and when is where cases are won.
When someone copies a product, a brand or a website, the first step is a letter before action, and most disputes end there. If the other side digs in, a small Barnet business can sue in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, where a £500,000 ceiling on damages and limits on recoverable costs keep litigation within reach. For patents the solicitor usually brings in a patent attorney.
Expect a fixed price for a registration or a standard licence and an hourly rate once a dispute starts.
Below are the intellectual property firms within reach of Barnet, verified firms at the top. The explainer on what intellectual property law covers and the general IP solicitors guide give the background; business law solicitors in Barnet handle company matters, and the London IP page lists specialist firms nearer the Rolls Building.
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