Starting up a business is no easy task and one of the key worries, especially when you begin to garner some success, is that someone might be able to steal your idea. Protecting your intellectual property is vital to stop a potential rival from running off with all your hard work, but where do you […]

Anatomy of a Trade Secret Misappropriation Court Case by Donal O’Connell, Managing Director, Chawton Innovation Services   Background A company, called “ABCD” for example, has a portfolio of IP assets, included a number of trade secrets. These trade secrets assets may be found across different functions in the organisation and include: Some algorithms within the […]

IP Licensing by Donal O’Connell, Managing Director, Chawton Innovation Services What is an IP license? An IP license in its simplest form is an agreement where an IP owner (the Licensor) permits another person (the Licensee) to engage in activities that, in the absence of the IP License Agreement, would infringe the Licensor’s legal rights […]

Why and how to Patent Search by Donal O’Connell, Managing Director, Chawton Innovation Services Prior art: Prior art, or state of the art or background art, in most systems of patent law constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to […]