"I view their work as first class and very supportive to ourselves and our needs"
A client quote from the Legal 500 2006

As part of our commercial services we offer advice to businesses on the protection and exploitation of their trade and service marks through a dedicated team of experts.

Protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights is a serious business, particularly at a time when our market place has been extended to the Internet and the world wide web.  For businesses of all shapes and sizes these information channels represent an opportunity to do business on a global scale, unbounded by time or distance.  Ideas are the currency of business; they are shared, developed and sold.  But just as this expansion presents opportunities, so it also brings threats to the very ideas that are at the heart of most businesses, and to the intellectual property rights that protect those ideas.  We regularly carry out IP audits on behalf of our clients covering areas such as trade marks, copyright and domain names.

The team is led by partner James Austin and enjoys a leading reputation in the region for the depth of its experience.  It includes Katherine Shadbolt, a Trade Mark Specialist, who advises clients on all aspects of patent issues and trade mark law, including licensing and worldwide registration strategies.  On contentious matters she is supported by partner Matthew Atkins who also advises on a wide range of technology issues having completed an LLM in Technology and Telecommunications Law at the University of Strathclyde.