Home · Legal Subject Areas · Intellectual Property (26 sites)
Bird & Bird

Bird & Bird is an international commercial law firm. Publications on its web site site include "Case Reports", comprising digests of selected intellectual property cases (mainly relating to trademarks) from 2001 onwards. There are also newsletters and articles on a range of commercial law topics.

British Library: Patents

As well as information about the British Library's holdings, publications and services relating to patents, the site includes general information about patents and other types of intellectual property and an extensive collection of links.

Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys

CIPA is the professional and examining body for patent attorneys (also known as patent agents) in the UK. Its site includes a searchable register of patent agents; an overview of the law of patents, trademarks, domain names, industrial designs and copyright; briefing papers (aimed at IP professionals) on matters of current interest; press releases; and links to IP organisations, overseas patent offices and legal texts (chiefly conventions).

Collection of Laws for Electronic Access

CLEA  is an electronic database providing access to intellectual property legislation from a wide range of countries and regions. Texts of laws and multilateral treaties (including those not administered by WIPO) are available, where possible in English and French and/or Spanish. There is slso a useful guide which explains the site content and demonstrates the various search options.

Collection of National Copyright Laws

This UNESCO web site provides a portal to national copyright laws of member states of UNESCO, with links to pdf or html versions of the legislation. The full text of the laws may not be available in English.

Company Names Tribunal

The Company Names Tribunal, which was created 1 October 2008, adjudicates on disputes about opportunistic company name and limited liability partnership name registrations. It is administered by the UK Intellectual Property Office. There is a factsheet (which includes links to legislation), practice notices, forms and decisions.

Copyright Tribunal

The Copyright Tribunal (CT), established under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, settles various types of copyright dispute, mainly in the field of collective copyright licensing. Decisions up to 1994 are available to download from the site. For later decisions there is information on how to purchase copies, apart from a number of freely downloadable "latest decisions". Also available for download are decisions of the CT's predecessor, the Performing Right Tribunal, back to 1958. Other content includes details of applications and references currently before the CT, and the current Practice Direction.

European Commission: Copyright and Neighbouring Rights

The Documents section in this area of the European Commission's EU Single Market web site includes links to current and proposed European legislation and news on developments in EU copyright law 2000 onwards.

European Patent Office

The Law section of the European Patent Office's web site, under the Patents tab, includes the text of the European Patent Convention and an online version of the book Case Law of the Boards of Appeal (5th edition, 2006). Both of these are accessible under the heading Legal Texts. The Case Law book is also accessible under Appeals in the same section, together with a complete searchable database of decisions of the EPO's Boards of Appeal from 1979 onwards.

FreePatentsOnline

Searchable database of US patents and applications and some European patents.

GATT Digital Library

This site, created in a partnership between the Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), contains over 59,000 documents and publications, published between 1947 and 1994, on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

GB Esp@cenet

This is a searchable database, designed by the European Patent Office, of all GB patent applications published by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the Patents Act 1977 from 1979 to the present, and of GB patents granted by the IPO since June 2002. The site also provides access to the Worldwide Esp@cenet database, which holds information about published patent applications from over 70 different countries and regions.

Institute for Information Law

The Institute is part of the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam. Its site includes a "Database Right File", which contains "a collection of links to relevant documents, legislative history, EU case law and publications" relating to the European Database Directive. Case law and implementing legislation are arranged by country. Also included on the site are articles on intellectual property issues in Europe.

Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys

The Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA) is the professional body for trade mark attorneys and trade mark and design litigators in the UK. Freely acessible content (there is also a members only section) includes ITMA's memorandum and articles of association, a glossary, recent annual reports, a News Archive 2004 onwards, and a link to the Code of Conduct for patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys, and information about the complaints procedure, on the Intellectual Propery Regulation Board web site.

Intellectual Property Office

The IPO is the government body responsible for granting intellectual property rights in the UK. This site is intended as a guide to users and creators seeking to protect their intellectual property. There are sections on copyright, designs, patents and trademarks. Detailed information is given in each section, together with relevant forms and access to the journals the IPO produces.

Intellectual Property Regulation Board

The Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg) was set up to undertake the regulation of the patent attorney and trade mark attorney professions on behalf of both the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) and the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA), which are Approved Regulators under the Legal Services Act 2007. Site content includes the single Code of Conduct which applies to all members of both professions.

International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations

IFRRO links together reproduction rights organisations around the world. It is an independent organisation established to foster the principles embodied in the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions. Its site includes a membership directory; IFRRO's Statutes and Guidelines; newsletters 1996 onwards; and press releases 2005 onwards. There is also information, with some links to text, on copyright legislation in selected countries.

IP/IT-Update

The Update is a service provided by NIPC, a set of barristers' chambers specialising in intellectual property and information technology. The site includes articles, links and case summaries on various areas of IP/IT law (design, brands, technologies, industries) with links to the relevant legislation on the OPSI site.

IPKat

IPKat is a blog managed by a team consisting of academics, a lawyer and an intellectual property consultant. It covers copyright, patent, trademark, information technology and privacy/confidentiality issues from a mainly UK and European perspective.

Jenkins

R.G.C. Jenkins & Co. is a UK firm of patent and trade mark attorneys and certified patent, trade mark and design litigators. The site's Publications section includes articles and newsletters, and Resources includes texts of the main UK intellectual property Acts, as amended.

Lawdit Solicitors

Lawdit Solicitors is a Southampton-based law firm specialising in trademarks, designs, patents and copyright law. The “Reading Room” section of its web site has a large article archive based on the various specialist areas including copyright, patents, domain names, media law, trademarks and data protection.

Mewburn Ellis

Mewburn Ellis LLP is one of the UK's largest firms of Chartered Patent Attorneys, European Patent Attorneys, European Trade Mark Attorneys and European Design Attorneys. The site's Library section has information sheets, articles written by the firm's attorneys, newsletters 1999 onwards, and a "latest news" section. Information is also provided under each of the three subject tabs - patents, trade marks, and designs & copyright.

Nominet

Nominet UK is a not for profit company which maintains the register of .uk internet names. Its web site provides extensive information on all aspects of its activities, which include operating a Dispute Resolution Service for domain name disputes. The site's Disputes/Legal section has details of the Dispute Resolution Service, with a database of decisions, and information on domain name court case law, including case digests with links to full text.

OHIM

OHIM is the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), the trademark and industrial designs registry for the internal market of the European Union which is based in Alicante, Spain. Site content includes databases with details of trademarks already granted; information and forms relating to the application process; links to relevant directives and regulations; decisions of the Office; and case law from the European Court of Justice and Court of First Instance.

Personality Rights Database

This web site is part of  “Privacy, Property, Personality”, a project of the research centre SCRIPT (formerly the AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law) which is based in the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh. It deals specifically with 'personality' rights. The site contains a collection of cases and legislative instruments from a number of different jurisdictions, each of which has some relevance to the protection of personality.

World Intellectual Property Organization

WIPO, a specialised agency of the United Nations, was created in 1967 to promote the protection of intellectual property worldwide. Its site includes the full text of WIPO-administered treaties, with tables of contracting parties; the Collection of Laws for Electronic Access (CLEA), a full text database of national IP laws of member states; and the WIPO Guide to Intellectual Property Worldwide, which includes profiles of the IP regime in each individual member state.


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