What Does Intellectual Property Law Cover?

Today a business comprises not only tangible assets (for example, financial resources), but also intangible assets such as trade marks, patents, other industrial property rights, and economic copyright and related rights. Intellectual property law therefore concerns not only artistic creators, but also entrepreneurs whose business involves developing and marketing innovative solutions, for example in modern technology, as well as those connected with patents for other solutions. Infringement of intellectual property rights threatens the interests and image of creators and entrepreneurs, which is why our Law Firm provides wide-ranging legal assistance on the protection of copyright and related rights.

Which Disciplines Does Intellectual Property Law Cover?

The protection of intellectual property rights concerns two areas: economic and moral copyright, and industrial property rights. Our advocates' law firm employs specialists with extensive experience in advising and representing our clients in intellectual property infringement cases in both areas.

Copyright

The function of copyright is to define the connection between a creator and a work, and the economic and non-economic rights arising from it. In the digital age, copyright infringement is very common and consists, among other things, of unlawfully sharing intellectual property, reproducing it or deriving financial benefit from it. Entrepreneurs very often, even unknowingly, infringe the copyright of other entrepreneurs or of their own employees or subcontractors, which makes legal assistance in this area extremely important.

See also: Commercial mediation

Industrial Property Law

Industrial property law lays down rules on matters such as:

• utility models,
• inventions,
• patents,
• trade marks,
• topographies of integrated circuits,
• geographical indications.

In practice, however, cases of infringement of industrial property rights most often concern the unlawful use of a trade mark, meaning a sign that distinguishes a product or brand belonging to one entrepreneur from the rights of other businesses. Disputes arise mainly where close similarity between trade marks concerns products or brands present on the same market.

Scope of Intellectual Property Services and Advice at KHM Law Firm

Intellectual property protection law concerns every business and every creator, all of whom are always exposed, and particularly so as a result of progress and the widespread availability of digital technology, to infringements of their economic and moral copyright and of their rights under industrial property law. We help our clients protect their patents, works, trade secrets and unpatented but documented knowledge, known as know-how.

See also: B2B contract analysis (in Polish)

If you need intellectual property protection, KHM Law Firm will help you in the following areas:

• We represent our clients in proceedings before the Patent Office and courts dealing with trade marks and other aspects of industrial property law.
• We represent our clients in cases concerning infringement of their moral and economic copyright, and in those cases we help them obtain damages and compensation for non-pecuniary harm.
• Where intellectual property rights have been infringed and our clients have suffered damage to their image as a result, we provide crisis advice.
• We help draft contracts and give opinions on contracts concerning economic copyright and licences.
• We provide legal advice to businesses whose activity is based on owning intellectual property or using someone else's intellectual property.
• We also represent clients against whom other entities have raised claims concerning intellectual property rights.
• We assist with the registration of patents and trade marks at the Patent Office.
• We advise on the operation of websites from a copyright perspective.
• Before going to court, we conduct mediation with the other party to the dispute with a view to resolving it amicably.

Intellectual Property Protection: An Attorney-at-Law Will Resolve Many Issues

Intellectual property law today covers a very wide range of issues, and digitisation makes its protection even more difficult. It concerns not only individual creators of artistic works and large entrepreneurs whose business is based on registered trade marks, patents or other industrial property rights, but also micro, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs who operate in the creative sector and wish to regulate the legal issues connected with the work of persons they engage under an employment relationship, a mandate contract or B2B cooperation.

See also: Free credit sanction (in Polish)

Resolving these issues requires not only knowledge, but also experience and familiarity with the court and administrative environment connected with intellectual property protection. In many disputes, rulings in similar cases are used as an argument and may tip the scales of justice in your favour or against you. Working with an experienced law firm is therefore very helpful: it will not only help protect you against unfair actions by entities infringing your intellectual property, but will also help you avoid unknowingly infringing someone else's copyright and industrial property rights in the course of your business.