Exeter is one of the main centres of climate science in Britain, with the Met Office headquartered on the edge of the city and the University of Exeter's research institutes a mile or two away. What that produces, apart from weather forecasts, is intellectual property: software, datasets, models and inventions that leave the laboratory as spin-out companies, licences and consultancy contracts. Exeter's intellectual property solicitors work with those companies from the day a researcher asks who owns what they have built.
The questions are familiar to any university city. Does the university or the academic own the invention? What does an investor need to see before putting money into a science park start-up? Who owns code written by a contractor, and what licence does a customer actually get? The answers lie in patents, copyright, confidentiality agreements and well-drafted assignments, and getting them wrong before a funding round is expensive to repair.
Away from the science park, Devon's brands matter just as much. Cider makers, cream producers, clothing labels, breweries and tourism businesses from Dartmoor to the Jurassic Coast rely on registered trade marks, and the county's photographers, writers, designers and games developers depend on copyright and design rights. An Exeter IP solicitor files trade marks and designs with the UK Intellectual Property Office, opposes conflicting applications, drafts licences and sends the letters that stop most infringements without a claim being issued. Where litigation is unavoidable, the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court offers capped costs and damages of up to £500,000 for smaller cases, and the Business and Property Courts in Bristol are the nearest venue for larger ones. Patent drafting is usually shared with a patent attorney.
Fixed fees cover most registrations and agreements; infringement disputes are charged hourly.
The intellectual property firms serving Exeter are listed below, verified firms first. See what intellectual property law covers, the general guide to IP solicitors, and the business law solicitors in Exeter page for company and investment work.
