Traditional Grimsby smoked fish is a protected name; the Lincolnshire sausage, despite a long campaign, is not, and any butcher in the country may call theirs by that name. That contrast explains much of what intellectual property solicitors in Lincoln do for the county's food producers: a geographical name is hard to own, a brand built around it is not, and the farm shop, gin distillery, plum-bread bakery or cheese maker that wants protection needs a registered trade mark for its own name and logo, a design registration for distinctive packaging, and a watch on competitors who sail close.
Lincoln's other intellectual property is newer. The University of Lincoln's agri-food and robotics research produces patents and spin-outs in crop sensing and automated harvesting; the gas-turbine works and the engineering firms around it guard designs with patents and confidentiality agreements; the contractors that support the RAF bases work under strict rules on what may be disclosed at all; and the city's games, design and media graduates need to know who owns the work they produce for clients. Photographers of the cathedral and the Wolds find their images on holiday-let listings without permission more often than they would like.
A Lincoln IP solicitor handles the registrations, drafts the licences, assignments and confidentiality agreements, and sends the letter that settles most infringements. Litigation is rare; a claim worth less than the £500,000 cap goes to the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, anything bigger to the Business and Property Courts, and patent matters bring in a patent attorney. The nearest large specialist teams are in Nottingham.
Registrations come at a fixed price, disputes by the hour.
Firms offering intellectual property advice around Lincoln are listed below, verified firms first. The bigger cases tend to go to intellectual property solicitors in Nottingham, the company side belongs with business law solicitors in Lincoln, and the explainer on intellectual property law and the general IP solicitors page cover the basics.
