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Helping you avoid infringements and restrictions

Practical advice delivered from a commercial standpoint

When you’re launching a new product or service, or investing in its development, understanding your freedom to operate (FTO) from an intellectual property rights perspective can be critical to your success. Our team of IP specialist lawyers and patent and trade mark attorneys are well placed to help you navigate the intellectual property landscape and manage the risks.

From us, you will get practical advice delivered from a commercial standpoint but with the experience that comes with dealing at the sharp end with the enforcement of IP rights and defending against assertions of IP right infringements. Our FTO advice will help you to better understand the risks, guide your decision making and maximise your freedom to operate whilst minimising your risk of infringing existing IP rights.

Specialist Staff

for the result you need

Michael Moore

Michael Moore

Partner Solicitor (UK)
Michael advises clients on the commercialisation, monetisation and enforcement of intellectual property assets. He advises across a broad range of sectors including electronics, life sciences, transport and energy and has a strong interest in emerging technologies including AI and Additive Manufacturing.
Photo: James Kinnaird

James Kinnaird

Partner Registered (SG), Chartered (UK) and European Patent Attorney
James Kinnaird is a Singapore Registered Patent Attorney, Chartered (UK) and European Patent Attorney.
Photo: Graham Burnett-Hall

Graham Burnett-Hall

Partner Solicitor (UK)
Graham is a Partner and a patent litigator at Marks & Clerk Law. He advises across a spectrum of fields encompassing life sciences, telecommunications, electrical engineering and medicinal devices.
Photo: Duncan White

Duncan White

Partner Chartered (UK) and European Patent Attorney
Duncan White is the Managing Partner of the Oxford office. In the course of 25 years in the patent profession, he has established a well-regarded international practice, spanning the UK, USA, Japan, Israel, and Northern Europe.
Photo: James Baker

James Baker

Partner Canadian Patent Agent
James Baker is a partner and registered Canadian patent agent in the Ottawa office of Marks & Clerk Canada.
Photo: Kirsteen Gordon

Kirsteen Gordon

Partner Chartered (UK) and European Patent Attorney
Kirsteen drafts, files and prosecutes patent applications worldwide and has experience of opposition and appeal work at the European Patent Office.

Commercial advice

Freedom to operate is rarely clear cut. But if others are operating in the same field, it needn’t necessarily stop you from doing so. The important thing is to be able to better understand and assess the risk.

The IP strategies we propose are clear, achievable and guided by your commercial objectives. Our advice gives you a clear assessment of the risk and helps you to navigate and manage it.

Technical and legal expertise

Our specialist team offers deep expertise across a wide range of technologies and industry sectors, which enables us to put together a team best suited for your FTO project Our specialist IP focused lawyers work alongside our patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys to provide you with a detailed understanding of the relevant legal, technical and commercial issues and provide you with clear guidance to assist you in making decisions with confidence.

Clients

Marks & Clerk has conducted FTO analyses for clients across a range of sectors as varied as energy and environment, digital transformation and pharmaceuticals. And for all types of organisations, ranging from start-ups, through to universities and multinational corporations.

Latest Insights

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- 03 February 2023

Marks & Spencer lights up Aldi design infringement

Marks & Spencer has successfully enforced several UK registered designs against Aldi’s copycat products in a decision that should provide welcome reassurance for designers seeking to use registered designs to protect their products.
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- 03 February 2023

Change to UKIPO practice where no UK representative has been appointed

As of January 2023, there has been an important, immediately implemented practice change by the UKIPO for rights where no UK or EEA based representative has been appointed – our recent article on this topic can be found here.
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Article
- 02 February 2023

Key differences between the EU and UK TM opposition systems

Brand owners and their advisers now need to treat the EU and UK separately when protecting and enforcing trade marks, so more dual, identical EU and UK trade mark applications are being filed than before.
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