What has a car plant got to do with intellectual property? More than most of its suppliers realise. Every component made on the International Advanced Manufacturing Park or along the A19 corridor was designed by someone, and the drawings, the tooling, the test data and the process improvements all belong to somebody, usually whoever the contract says. A Sunderland supplier that develops a better bracket at its own cost and then finds the customer's standard terms claim ownership of it has a problem an intellectual property solicitor should have prevented.
The same questions appear across the rest of Sunderland's economy in smaller forms. The software and digital companies that have grown up around the university need to know who owns code written by contractors, how to license it to customers without giving it away, and when a name is worth registering as a trade mark. The city's brewers, bakers and food producers register names and labels, and find that a geographic word like Wearside or Roker can be used by everyone and protected by no one. Artists, photographers and musicians rely on copyright, which exists automatically but has to be evidenced and enforced.
An IP solicitor in Sunderland handles trade mark and design registrations at the UK Intellectual Property Office, drafts confidentiality, licensing and assignment agreements, and sends the letter that stops most infringements. The minority that go further are usually issued in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, where damages are capped at £500,000 and recoverable costs are limited, which suits a small Wearside business. Patents are handled with a patent attorney.
Registrations and standard agreements are generally fixed-fee; disputes are not.
Intellectual property firms around Sunderland are listed below, verified ones first and the rest by distance. Read what intellectual property law covers and the general IP solicitors guide; company owners may also need business law solicitors in Sunderland, and the larger regional IP practices are on the Newcastle page.
