Platform, white-label, B2B supply, SaaS, affiliate and outsourcing agreements, drafted and negotiated to close deals in regulated markets.
IP Registration & Protection
Brands, software and content are often a digital business's most valuable assets. We register and protect them across the markets you operate in and plan to enter.
Discuss your matterTypical deliverables
- Clearance and filing strategy by market
- Trademark and patent applications
- Group IP ownership map, ready for due diligence
- Assignments and licence agreements
- Domain dispute filings
- Renewal and watch calendar
A cross-jurisdiction capability, supported across the jurisdictions in our directory. See jurisdictions
Overview
Why it matters
For digital businesses, the brand, the software and the content are frequently worth more than anything else on the balance sheet, and they reach every market the business serves online. Clear ownership of them — registered brands, software assigned by the contractors who built it, domains held by the company — is checked in due diligence and bank reviews, and is what the business relies on in a dispute.
We plan filings around the markets you operate in and intend to enter — through national and regional offices, the Madrid System for international trademark registration and the Patent Cooperation Treaty for patent applications — manage them through examination, objections and oppositions to the office's decision, and put the ownership, licensing and enforcement documentation in place, so the business can prove, license and enforce what it owns.
We run cross-border protection as one strategy: we plan it, and instruct and coordinate the locally registered attorneys or local counsel that many offices and courts require, so that protection is consistent across markets.
Scope
What we do
Trademark Registration & Protection
Clearance searches before you invest in a brand, filing strategy and national, regional and international applications managed through examination and any opposition, and action against conflicting or infringing marks.
Patent Registration & Protection
Patentability assessment and a filing strategy focused on the inventions worth protecting, with applications prepared and prosecuted together with registered patent attorneys where the office requires it, and support in protecting granted rights.
Copyright Protection & Registration where available
Protecting software, content and creative works through clear ownership, licensing, registration and enforcement, so your rights in them hold up in due diligence and disputes.
Domain Name Disputes
Recovering and defending the domain names customers use to reach you, including UDRP complaints and national dispute resolution procedures.
IP Enforcement Strategy
Monitoring, platform takedowns, cease-and-desist letters and enforcement plans to act on infringement across markets, with local counsel where proceedings are needed.
IP Portfolio Support
Portfolio reviews, renewal calendars and watch arrangements that flag deadlines and conflicting filings, and IP ownership aligned with the group structure.
IP Agreements
Assignments, licences, development and contractor agreements, and the IP terms in technology and commercial contracts, so the business owns what it builds.
Jurisdictions
Supported across jurisdictions
We support IP Registration & Protection across the jurisdictions in our directory, adapting the work to what each jurisdiction's law requires and coordinating local specialists where local law, registration, representation or professional requirements require it. Copyright generally arises without registration; registration is available in some countries and not in others.
- Europe18
- Asia & Middle East4
- Americas & Caribbean11
- Africa & Indian Ocean6
Industries
Where we apply it
- iGaming & GamingB2C operators, B2B suppliers, platforms, aggregators and affiliates.
- Fintech & PaymentsPayment and e-money institutions, PSPs and acquirers, payment facilitators and embedded finance.
- Crypto & Digital AssetsCASPs and VASPs, exchanges, custodians, wallets, token projects and crypto payments.
- Forex & InvestmentsForex and CFD brokers, investment firms, trading and investment platforms.
- Digital Platforms & MarketplacesOnline marketplaces, digital platforms, multi-sided platforms and digital service operators.
- IT & SaaS BusinessesIT and software development companies, SaaS providers, IT outsourcing and cloud services.
Questions
Frequently asked
In which markets should we register our trademark?
At a minimum, where you operate and where you expect to operate in the next few years, and in markets where copying is a known risk. Regional and international filing systems can reduce the cost; we compare the options against your market list and recommend a filing plan you can budget for.
Our software was built by contractors. Do we own it?
Not necessarily. In many jurisdictions, copyright in work created by an independent contractor stays with the contractor unless it is assigned in writing. We review the contracts and put assignments in place where they are missing, so you can show clear title to investors and customers.
Can you protect our IP internationally?
Yes, as one programme rather than separate filings: a filing plan built around your market list, one renewal and watch calendar, domain name recovery and an enforcement strategy per market, coordinated by one team so protection keeps pace with your expansion.
Related
Related practice areas
Group architecture, incorporation, substance and governance built around your licences, banking and investors.
External DPO services and working privacy programmes: GDPR and global privacy laws, DPIAs, data mapping, transfers and ISO/IEC 27701.
Regulatory, business model, perimeter, payment, gaming, crypto-asset and cross-border opinions that answer what banks and investors ask.
Protecting a brand, software or content across markets?
The first conversation covers what you own, the markets you serve and plan to enter, and any dispute; you then receive a written proposal with scope, timetable and fee.