The Briffa Credibility Advantage
We are well known as specialists. This means you can rely on the fact we work closely with leading intellectual property barristers on High Court cases, County Court and in the Patent Office and Trade Mark and Design Registry in the United Kingdom.
In choosing Briffa, your opponents and their advisors will understand that we are credible and experienced. Our solid reputation also may help if you decide to seek external cost funding funding via After-The-Event legal insurance.
An application for funding is generally more compelling when it comes via a specialist firm like ours. Insurers know us and take our opinions seriously in conducting an action or a decision on settlement or otherwise.
Cease and Desist Letters, Injunctions and Tactics in IP Disputes
All litigation is tactical and involves risks. With intellectual property, the risks and ante may be higher because of the value of the assets and the fact that waiting for a case to proceed to trial, if it has to, can take many months, during which time severe or irreparable damage may be done to your business, for example, where your confidential information, trade secrets or know how are being unlawfully used.
As a consequence, it is worth considering, in many cases, applying for an injunction or other urgent remedy from the court, to at least ensure that any breach of your rights does not get any worse until you can claim full damages later. Injunctions and other interim applications, where a Claimant is successful, often result in a claim being resolved, but they are inherently high risk, high cost and need to be very carefully considered with strong evidential support.
One of the challenges with breaches of IP rights is the issue of numerous small scale offenders. For example, if you have the trade mark for a logo, you may find it being used on clothing, media or other formats by numerous unconnected “chancers” in different locations all over the world. Aside from finding the wrongdoer, there is a dilemma as to whether it is worth taking action, on economic ground and in many cases, you shouldn’t assume that your legal costs will be recovered. Different clients adopt different approaches but all can rely on our experience, clear thinking and good advice as to options and pros and cons.
Other important considerations with dispute resolution will typically include :-
- Expert evidence and the value of goodwill
- Contract damages
- Patent, copyright and trade mark disputes