Articles by ‘Stephen Welfare’

Land and buildings, whether domestic or commercial, continue to increase in value as demand outstrips supply. Sellers will naturally look to save money wherever they can and avoiding an agent’s fee is occasionally seen as one possibility. With the increase in the use of online marketing methods and low cost commissions and self-help, the hard working estate agent has never before been so under threat by competition and financial/economic pressures. Being able to recover his contractual fee in law and in practice must be of paramount importance.

I posted a blog on the likely effects of Brexit on intellectual property back in July 2016. A year and a half on, and with negotiations between the UK Government and the EU moving along at a pace considerably slower than a skeletal sled, has any progress been made and is anything more certain?

In this blog, I review the position and provide an update.

It is probably universally accepted that an architect owns the design in a building. But what of a garden? Intellectual property specialist Stephen Welfare explores the issue.

The Estate Agents Act 1979 (“the Act”) has been with us for some 34 years, the major part  coming into force in May 1982. The important Regulations referred to at Section 18 of the Act came into force on 29 July 1991 (“the Regulations”) . So there really should be no surprises and no reasons for disputes over when a person acting as an estate agent is entitled to a commission, and how much they should be paid, and yet disputes continue and commissions are lost.

Specialist intellectual property (IP) lawyers from UK Top 100 law firm RWK Goodman in London have advised the National Association of Jewellers (NAJ) on a strategic partnership with Made in Britain, the organisation representing more than 1,000 UK makers across 40 product sectors with one universal manufacturer’s marque.

In the fast-moving world of intellectual property and trade marks, it is vital to defend your brand as actively as you can. And you don’t have to be an international powerhouse like Chanel to do it.

The Data Protection Bill has been making the headlines recently. This month, the Government published the Data Protection Bill statement of intent. The Bill itself is likely to be published after 5 September 2017 when our MPs return from their summer recess.

Modern day businesses rely heavily on functioning networks and servers. So it’s no wonder that cyber crime is fast becoming one of the managers’ biggest headaches. From reputational damage and data protection, to crippling downtime, this invisible threat can have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences.

Whatever you are looking to buy, chances are you’ll look online first. In recent years, the internet has seen an explosion of online traders, some reputable, some not so much. Brand owners and distributors who consider certain online retailers damaging to their brands now have a way of dealing with that, as Selective Distribution Agreements become increasingly popular.

The Copyright Society of China (“CSC”) has launched its official online Copyright Monitoring Centre (“the Centre”).  The Centre had been founded for some time, since August 2016, but only went live last month.  The…

The Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017. It is expected to come into force in October 2017.

We recently collaborated with High Growth Knowledge Company and Milsted Langdon to co-host a roundtable on innovation. The event saw senior leaders of successful South West SMEs come together to share their ideas on how to drive growth in an increasingly competitive environment. Here, we share what we have learnt and explore our top tips to inspire you to think about your business innovation.