Colchester has been sending oysters to market since the Romans, and the name still sells them, which is the first lesson in local intellectual property: a reputation is worth protecting, and a place name is the hardest thing of all to protect. Food and drink producers across north Essex, from the jam makers at Tiptree to the county's vineyards and breweries, come to Colchester IP solicitors to register names, labels and logos, and to find out which parts of what they have built can be owned and which cannot.
The University of Essex is the second source of work. Its strengths in data science, artificial intelligence and economics produce software, datasets and spin-out companies based at the Knowledge Gateway on the campus edge, and the questions are those of any university city: who owns what a researcher created, how the university's licence to a spin-out should be drafted, and what an investor's due diligence will look for. Creative businesses, from digital agencies to designers and photographers working from home, live on copyright and need contracts saying who owns the work they produce for clients. Defence suppliers serving the garrison hold designs and know-how protected by confidentiality rather than registration.
Infringement is usually dealt with by a letter and a negotiated licence or undertaking. The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court in London hears smaller claims with capped costs and damages up to £500,000, and a Colchester solicitor can run such a case without the client ever travelling; patents are drafted with a patent attorney, with the solicitor handling contracts and disputes.
Trade mark and design registrations and standard agreements are usually fixed-fee; disputes are charged by the hour.
Firms offering intellectual property advice in Colchester are listed below, verified firms first. Read what intellectual property law covers and the general IP solicitors guide, see business law solicitors in Colchester for company matters, and compare intellectual property solicitors in Chelmsford for the rest of Essex.
