Design Intellectual Property
how can a student get support with infringed intellectual property rights in the UK?
Hi,
What should a student in design do if one of his designs (of which he owns the copyright) has been ripped off by a nation-wide company in the UK, and he has been told (by a qualified IP lawyer) that going to court would at least cost £250 000? Is there a way to get IP legal aid in that case? Has anyone ever eared of a similar case?
My university doesn’t have an IP officer, owever, I was given a free appointment with an IP lawyer who told me it would cost me £250 000…
Although I am very knowledgeable on certain areas of law Intellectual Property rights are something I know only a small amount about but I will try and assist you:
Under the Copyright Act anything you create if copyrighted to the person who creates it. For example, if I write a children’s story about “Herbert the Snail” then it belongs to me. There is no need to official register it, although obviously if I do so it helps substantially in proving my case should it ever go to court for breach of copyright.
In any case of intellectual property actually proving that you are the original creator may be hard without sufficient evidence. No doubt in the past people have created many things only to find they have been stolen by large corporations and individuals and have no legal case because they lack evidence at court.
The legal fees he has been quoted by the qualified IP lawyer I think are rediculous! I think it should be reworded perhaps to “could cost” and not “would cost”. Any case ultimately “could cost” thousands of pounds but I feel certain that actions on intellectually property right actions have costed far less. My knowledge is they could be carried out in the County Court which contrary to people’s perceptions has no limit on its power to hear cases (at one time if was roughly quoted at £50,000 but this was a guideline only).
Unless Copyright actions are only pursuable in the High Court there is no reason it could not be done by someone with basic knowledge. I believe that Legal Aid would be available for such a case.
There are other points to consider:
1. Does you friend have sufficient evidence – it must be proven on the “balance of probability”?
2. If you friend sure that the company have stolen his design and it is not one that looks similar?
If it does look similar then the right course of action would be to take out what is known as a “passing off action”. This is where a name, logo etc. is prevented from being used by a third party in an unliquidated damages action.
You could also consider taking out an “injunction”. There are 2 forms:
1. Prohibitory
2. Mandatory
Usually injunctions are “prohibitory” and this is where a party is instructed by the court not to do something – do not associate with some, do not go within a certain area etc. In the High Court also an injunction could be granted known as an “Anton Pillar Order” or “Mareva injunction”. At the moment I cannot remember which one is which but the one you need is for intellectual property rights and seeks to seize the items in question.
As most actions at court are actionable only on proof of pecuniary loss your friend may have the hurdle of establishing some kind of “loss” or damages of some kind. But check on that one because you may not have to!
Hope this helps!
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