Understanding the Critical Elements of a Cost-Effective Legal Department

Without any second thoughts, controlling the costs in a legal department can, at times, prove to be exceedingly challenging, specifically when it comes to a growing business. Although it is imperative to protect and maintain the legal rights of businesses adequately, it is equally imperative to ensure that the legal and business strategies are well-aligned so that the legal services can effectively manage the Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio. So, let us now make ourselves familiar with a few aspects, using which a legal department can minimize its cost, that too, with little optimization.

1.     IP Benchmarking

As a brand or a business grows, there may be a coinciding growth of the IP portfolio as well. The same can prove to a bit challenging for the legal departments in business companies or organizations as every new IP asset comes with a set of additional costs. In this scenario, the concept of IP benchmarking can help the legal departments in controlling the costs of Intellectual Property Protection within the IP portfolio. With effective IP benchmarking, the legal team shall be able to understand the value and influence of every other IP asset not only individually but also as a part of the overall IP portfolio. Furthermore, the IP benchmarking process can offer valuable insights into the costs of IP protection in the market by comparing the service providers and seeing what the competitors are paying for the same set of services. It will help in making sure that a business company or organization doesn’t overpay for external legal services or fees.

2.     Resource Allocation

If the legal department of a company operates within a growing business, then it sometimes becomes difficult to control the costs as there may be a need to hire new staff members for supporting the legal work associated with the business growth. It can also include the requirement for having a specialized legal counsel. For the same reason, the legal department and the general counsel should together evaluate how the different staff members are allocated among different cases, both by time and skillset. Also, in the scenario where there is a need for specialized legal knowledge, it can be beneficial to consult an external legal services provider. As per various recent reports and surveys conducted, the tools and techniques used by the legal departments hold immense potential for cost savings. The overall costs of maintaining these resources can increase as the legal department grows; so, it is essential to assess these resources and understand whether they provide a suitable ROI for the business or not.

3.     Outsourcing Specialized Tasks

After understanding the allocation of the internal resources, you can have a better insight into the skillset and resources, which are more cost-effective to outsource. Irrespective of whether your team is managing a high workload or you require the assistance of a specialized team for a short term project, outsourcing legal work and tasks can prove to be beneficial for many reasons. The prime advantage is that your legal team would have access to additional resources and specialists with no obligation of hiring permanent staff members or paying the high costs for legal tools. If your business owns a growing IP portfolio, then you can consult an IP specialist and enable access to a broad network of legal resources, which can lead to better IP protection, specifically when it comes to tasks like IP docketing or performing a Trademark Search. The overall benefits of outsourcing can differ from one business to another; so, it is highly advisable to seek advice from different service providers and then determine what is more cost-effective for your legal department. 

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AMT Wins Patents for Chemical Vapor Smoothing in Europe

AMT (Additive Manufacturing Technologies – the global leader specializing in the safe and sustainable post-processing solutions of additively manufactured parts) has quite recently got its core portfolio of patents for chemical vapor smoothing granted.

AMT’s patents focus on the novel and inventive apparatus, which is used in the chemical vapor smoothing of thermoplastic polymer parts produced from composite, flexible, and rigid subsets, like thermoplastic polyurethane, polyamide, and glass-filled derivatives, along with the newly announced polypropylene.

Significantly, the IP enables multiple consumables to be used to process the parts, which, in turn, allows AMT to remain flexible corresponding to new regulatory requirements and material offerings.

AMT’s UK patent GB2560073B, granted on 17th June 2020, and both the complimentary German utility models – 20 2017 007 255.6 and 20 2017 007 250.5, granted on 25th June 2020, provide retrospective Intellectual Property Protection to the 2017 filing date. The company is now expecting the corresponding patents to be granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) in the coming future.

AMT’s patents are granted after its five years of research and development at the University of Sheffield (UK), along with the extensive commercialization of its PostPro3D machines with its global network of partners. The patents granted highlight the fact that AMT’s PostPro3D is indeed a differentiated and unique technology.

The CEO of AMT, Joseph Crabtree, mentioned in a recent statement delivered that the company is fulfilling all of its goals with one milestone at a time and a clear vision for the future. According to Crabtree, PostPro3D is a decided leader in fully sustainable, safe, and automated surface finishing systems for all the applications and materials in the industry. He further said that it is indeed terrific to see that AMT has efficiently secured its core patents after many years of hard work and development. He believes that AMT is recognized in the market for its unique inventions, and its overall strategy is undoubtedly based around its strong IP position.

AMT keeps collaborating closely with its partners and customers to maximize the delivered value to the industry and shall continue searching for solutions in the future as well to bring additive manufacturing a step closer to an industry-wide accepted manufacturing solution. For view source: https://www.kashishipr.com/blog/amt-wins-patents-for-chemical-vapor-smoothing-in-europe/

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Understanding the Utmost Importance of Trademark Registration in India

If you are planning to create your brand, you must come up with something one of a kind to prevail in the present highly competitive business environment. The real thing is, either you provide an entirely dynamic service or product or opt for differentiation because there is a lot of marketplace share upon which people already have their eyes set. In this scenario, it becomes exceedingly imperative to understand the way you can uphold your capabilities in your business, which shall, in turn, make you specific and easily identifiable amongst your customers and set your magnificence aside from your competitors.

Without any second thoughts, Trademark Registration is undoubtedly the top-most priority of every business firm and organization.

In India, the Office of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks, beneath the department for Industrial Policy and Promotion, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and the Government of India, deals with the mechanism of trademark registration and protection as per the Trade Marks Act of 1999. The overall regime corresponding to trademark registration in India has gone through some crucial modifications in all these years to enhance Intellectual Property Protection in the country.

A Trademark Safeguards your Brand Name

·         It assists your customers in differentiating your offerings, be it your services or products, from the ones of your arch competitors.

·         It serves as an exclusive demonstration of your high-quality services and products in the marketplaces.

·         It enables you to earn goodwill and create a positive brand reputation.

·         It serves as the most effective business tool and establishes your brand’s identity

·         It helps in gaining customer trust and loyalty.

With trademark registration, you can boost your brand name’s recognition efficiently. Furthermore, advertising your brand and the related products and services with the registered trademark shall make your business lead towards the ultimate path of success.

A Trademark is your Best Communication Tool

·         It effectively wraps up several technical problems in a single registered mark together with the company name, its reputation, offerings covered, and the consumers’ requirements that it caters.

·         It serves as a critical medium of grabbing the customers’ attention and further helps them in identifying your products.

A Few Other Points to Consider:

·         After getting your proposed mark registered as a trademark, all you have to do is renew the same after every ten years. The entire trademark registration process and subsequent renewals have a pretty lesser fee involved in contrast to the other forms of IP.

·         A trademark provides the customers with the capability of protecting themselves via relying on the recognized manufacturers’ products and services in the market.

·         You can efficiently protect your registered trademark by taking legal action against its unauthorized use. You can prevent people and other business firms from using your registered trademark by warning them; however, if they still attempt to infringe upon your registered trademark, then you must initiate legal proceedings against them.

By registering your proposed mark as a trademark in India, you can safeguard your brand entity, enjoy all the benefits mentioned above, and experience immense growth and success in your business.  For view source: https://www.kashishipr.com/blog/understanding-the-utmost-importance-of-trademark-registration-in-india/

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Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement in the Online World

In the present digital era, the internet has undoubtedly created a plethora of opportunities for business firms, organizations, and companies, as a result of which, they are efficiently able to communicate their brand messages and reach out to their potential customers. However, if we keep the positive aspects of the internet aside, which include its global reach, versatility, and openness, we can observe that the highly unregulated nature of the internet has led to a fertile ground for Intellectual Property (IP) Infringement corresponding to trademarked brand names, registered designs, and copyrighted content. Online infringement of IP assets covers the sale of counterfeit services and products through various digital channels and other activities, such as phishing, cybersquatting, content piracy, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) abuse.

Exploring the Different Forms of IP

In a lot of countries across the globe, there are four prime forms of IP available, namely patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright, and they can secure legal Intellectual Property Protection. IP infringement refers to the violation of a protected Intellectual Property Right (IPR). IP Rights are the rights given to an inventor or creator for his or her original and unique works. It implies that IP infringement is nothing but violating the right protected by a patent, copyright, or trademark. While having a patent, copyright, or Trademark Registration in hand, the creator or inventor holds the exclusive rights to initiate legal proceedings against the infringer, collect damages, and further stop the infringing activity.

Understanding the Need for Online IP Enforcement

In the present highly-competitive business environment and fast-paced society, it is essential to have a standard process or method corresponding to online IP enforcement, which most of the companies out there can adapt conveniently irrespective of their territorial jurisdiction. The reason behind doing the same lies in the fact that companies nowadays find it exceedingly arduous to monitor online IP infringement. Additionally, they can no longer rely on traditional legal remedies for dealing with such cases. Hence, they must come up with a multi-faceted and proactive strategy concerning trademark and Copyright Protection, which shall, in turn, offer efficient ways of adapting well to the extreme challenges of the online world. Doing so is of the utmost importance for companies and startups that have a lot to do with publishing content online. There are a few forms of IP that may give the owners the exclusive rights only in the nation where their IP is registered, which further leads to the need of having some extra-territorial rights in place to be independently recognized or proved by a court of law. However, when it comes to the online world, it becomes tough to implement such principles because it is quite convenient to maintain an anonymous identity by using offshore internet servers. As a result of having this kind of virtual presence, the infringers or violators end up generating massive profits. The other issue associated with the traditional approach resulting in successful online IP infringement includes the aspect of lack of uniformity in the legal landscape. Varying IP regulations, rules, and laws in different jurisdictions often result in making it hard to navigate the legal landscape.

Another crucial factor is identifying the entity or individual liable for online IP infringement and further taking appropriate action. Infringed upon content may be there on official websites of news publications, independent sellers, or individual blogs, where identifying the infringer may prove to be a lot more convenient. On the other side, such content may be there on media-sharing platforms such as Pinterest or YouTube, social media platforms like Instagram or Twitter, and seller platforms such as an app store or Amazon, which may make it arduous to come across the infringer. Furthermore, infringing content may also be indexed in widely-known search engines like Google, which would make such content convenient to come across and popularize over the original content, thereby resulting in monetary damages to the IP owner.

What is a Take-Down Request?

A take-down request refers to the procedure for asking an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the search engine to disable or remove the access to outdated, irrelevant, or illegal information. Such requests may be issued for any piece of content that infringes on any copyright, trademark, patent, personality rights, or privacy rights. Many nations around the world have well-defined laws corresponding to requiring the ISPs or intermediaries to give to-the-point procedures for the IP owners to submit a request along with providing all the supporting information or necessary evidence concerning the take-down request. In some scenarios, such laws also set a time limit, within which the intermediary needs to respond to such requests or take appropriate action against the infringing content reported by the IP owner.✅  For view source: https://www.kashishipr.com/blog/intellectual-property-ip-enforcement-in-the-online-world/

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Operative Strategy to Protect Your Intellectual Property in India

Are you among people who own businesses exporting to or operating in India or who are considering it as a future market? Note that your Intellectual Property (IP) is a valuable business asset, and in an emerging market such as India could be your main competitive advantage. Hence, you should have an IP management strategy that identifies all of your IP to protect them and extract profit from them.

India has been operating as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995. Therefore, it is common to find similarities between the IP Law of India and that is in force in the UK. India is also a signatory to several international treaties on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) like trademarks, patents, and Industrial Designs, which can be protected through registration. Enforcement procedures of these rights are taken care of by the Indian courts that can provide interim remedies like injunctions in the event of an infringement. The courts can even instruct perpetrators to accounts for monetary or other profits generated from infringement.

Registering IPRs in India

Intellectual Property Protection is jurisdiction-specific. It means the registration of IP in India is essentially required even if they are already protected in the UK. Considering backlogs at the IP registries, registration of trademarks, copyrights, patents, and others could take months or years. So the businesses should plan to register their IP prior to entering the market. Indeed, even the experienced IP Attorneys suggest that the owners should register their IP as soon as they could.

IP Enforcement in India

In India, there are three IP enforcement channels, including police, customs, and judiciary. Patents and designs can be enforced through civil litigation, whereas trademarks and copyrights can be enforced through any of the criminal or civil litigation. Some remarkable risks with IP enforcement in India are as follows:

• Systematic and capacity associated issues, compounded by lack of awareness regarding IP protection amongst the public
• Judicial delays, where Indian courts can take months or even years to come to a final verdict. However, they can grant interim injunctions that offer immediate relief to the rights-holders pending the consequences of cases against infringers
• Small players account for several IP infringements. It means that breakdowns, even if small, require sustained and costly efforts to make any vital impact.

A noticeable advantage for the foreign businesses running in India is that the legal system is based on law common to several nations, so the fundamental processes are quite similar.

Checklist for an Operative IP Strategy in India

India is one of the continuously emerging markets that can help new players and already established businesses to make considerable profits, which can then add to their growth and success. Some of the steps you should consider to build an IP strategy that can ensure your growth, along with keeping the IP issues away, are:

Be Meticulous as Prevention is Better than Cure

The foremost thing you should do is to be aware of as much information as possible. Find out local risk reviews, seek advice from IP experts, and go through websites rendering information on IP related subjects. Conduct proper risk assessments and due diligence on individuals, organizations, or any third-party that you will be dealing with either for licensing your IP or anything else. It will provide you with an idea on how to protect your genuine products from being infringed, i.e., copied or sold under a different name or by an unauthorized user.

Secure Your IP Rights

Under the assistance of an experienced IP Lawyer, register your IPRs in India. Since registration could take time, you should plan for the same well ahead of entering the market. Stay careful during the entire process from application to grant of the registration certificate.

Don’t Miss the Dispute Resolution Clauses

Besides including appropriate dispute resolution clauses in legal contracts, you should also consider mediation before defensive action. Reduce risks of infringement by ensuring that your contract is watertight in relation to your IP Rights. Nevertheless, if you still face piracy or violation, then it is better to appoint a skilled attorney who can understand your concern and initiate appropriate legal proceedings.

Build Good Relationships with Helpful Organizations

There are many organizations and individuals that can help you with subjects related to your IP. For instance, suggestions can be acquired from organizations like the UK India Business Council, the UK IPO, and Chambers of Commerce. You may also consult with agents, suppliers, and distributors who conduct similar businesses in India on how to safeguard your IP rights in this nation.

Believe in Constant Innovation

In the emerging economies where a large number of players account for several infringements, constant innovation often acts as a key to protect your competitive advantage. While IP protection boosts innovation, constant innovation provides an added protection against infringers.  

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Japan Seeks to Reinforce Intellectual Property for Fruits and Veggies

With the advent of the year 2020, there comes news that Japan is planning to strengthen Intellectual Property (IP) control over its premium products, like fruits and vegetables being sold overseas to prevent its high-end crops from being grown and then sold as the products of other countries.

As per Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF), the crops that have been influenced by the failure to appropriate implementation of IP control abroad include the high-end Shine Muscat grapes. It is a crop being produced by other nations such as Korea and China.

FoodNavigator-Asia, one of the leading online news sources for the food industry for near about 20 years, confirmed with MAFF that the proposed initiative for ministry to handle this situation is to appoint a private company to work on the Intellectual Property Protection of Japan’s newly cultivated fruits and vegetables.

MAFF officer, who opted to remain anonymous, emphasized that although it hasn’t yet been confirmed, the department is seeking at budgeting for such a company to help Japan secure new fruit and vegetable varieties. He added that discussion on this matter is on-going internally, but no official details are in place till now. This protection would likely be applied only to new produce varieties.

That said, if approved, such a move would bring good outcomes for the country’s agricultural industry, which is striving to boost up its high-end fruit and vegetable exports from the current estimated JPY1tn (US$9.2mn), as per Japan times.

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries’s Intellectual Property Strategy 2020 report also lined up strengthening the IP protection of new plant varieties as a vital area of focus to uplift competitiveness of the nation’s seed and seedling industry.

MAFF, in the strategy report, said that it is crucial to establish an environment where breeders can easily obtain and use legal rights to promote the new and excellent plant varieties with international competitiveness both in Japan and abroad. Measures to strengthen IP protection was highlighted as a significant section of the report, with the ministry aiming to do so by both:

·         Providing support against any IP infringement

·         Developing technology and tools that can aid the IP-holders to prove their rights to ownership

MAFF added that it is essential to ensure that the right holders can confirm the IP violation overseas and take border measures promptly and appropriately. Besides these, several other efforts are being planned by Japan and MAFF. One out of them includes methods to identify the geographical area where a product is being produced and ways to conserve varieties for which new applications have been filed.

As part of the doings undertaken by MAFF Intellectual Property Consortium, which is known as Japan’s IP protection watchdog for its products’ overseas Trademark Applications, activities related to Geographical Indication ranked very high on the list, according to the consortium’s latest report.

Emphasizing GI, MAFF said that in Japan, many brand products have already obtained a remarkable reputation because of their unique production approaches and natural characteristics like regional climate and soil conditions. The GI Act helps the government to protect the name of such products.

He ended by saying that Japan works with a dedicated GI symbol to indicate protected products. Moreover, to achieve its aim, the nation has recently established a webpage on the online tax donation website Satofull. It is a site that allows people to donate their produces to preferred municipalities in situations of disaster. In return, they would be benefitted by having a large portion of total donation deducted from their taxes. For more visit: https://www.kashishipr.com/ 

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