• Specialist Intellectual
    Property Law Firm

    Headed by Andrew Clay

We provide IP advice of the highest possible quality
at exceptional prices.

Research

Look at all aspects surrounding our clients requirements.

Evaluation

Evaluate all possibilities and outcomes to ensure nothing is overlooked.

Advice

Provide the highest quality advice and walk you through the process.

OUR SERVICES

Advice and Consultancy

We also offer general IP advice and consultancy to individuals and organisations of all sizes. Please get in touch to find out how we might be able to assist you with your IP requirements.

IP Infringement Disputes

We handle all aspects of IP infringement disputes from initial advice about the merits, drafting letters before action right through to taking a case through to trial including appeals to the Court of Appeal.

IP disputes with Employees and Ex-employees

A very common IP dispute scenario is one or more employees leaving to join a competitor or set up on their own. We have extensive experience of how to deal with this scenario.

IP Ownership Issues

We can advise you in relation to IP ownership issues that often arise between employers and employees, with consultants, collaboration partners and suppliers of all types.

Disputes relating to IP Agreements

We have extensive experience of dealing with a broad range of disputes relating to IP agreements including IP licences and joint ventures, R&D and collaboration agreements. We have taken such disputes to the Court of Appeal and also dealt with full-blown international arbitrations.

Commercialisation of IP

Covering all aspects of your IP exploitation strategy from putting together the optimum strategy through to implementation on a national or international basis. Helping you draft your IP licence, joint venture, IP option, R&D & collaboration agreements, IP assignments & mortgages, and charges of IP.

IP Registration

We don’t handle IP registrations but we have excellent relations with high quality patent and trade mark attorneys, who can handle your applications for patents, regisered designs and registered trade marks.

IP Strategy Reviews

If you want to seek investment or to really grow your business then having an IP strategy that supports those objectives is paramount. We have extensive experience of enabling businesses to develop a well-thought out IP strategy.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT IP ADVISOR

Recognising where the value lies: the same legal tools are available to everyone but not everyone knows how to use them to maximum effect.

Recognising where the value lies: the same legal tools are available to everyone but not everyone knows how to use them to maximum effect.

A lot of value can be tied up in IP so it is often very important for those with IP issues to get really good advice. A key challenge for many ley clients however is to find a good IP advisor. This is often however done in a somewhat ad hoc way: my cousin’s partner went to school with someone who does IP. If you are lucky this can work but it can also go spectacularly wrong. As a strategy it fails to factor in any consideration of the qualities that make a good IP advisor, such as:

  • A good listener

    Advice is only good advice if it assists the client achieve its commercial objectives. A good advisor will take the time to properly understand both what the client’s commercial objectives are and also the position the client finds itself in.

  • Deep experience of similar situations

    Given the importance of intellectual property to business, handling IP disputes and the commercialisation of IP rights, you don’t want someone running your case who is learning on the job. You want decades of experience.

  • Strategic thinking

    IP disputes can be very complex and it can be all too easy not to miss the points that are really going to matter. A good IP lawyer will work with you to devise a clear strategy based around a well-thought out theory of the case.

  • Smart

    A good IP lawyer will have the ability to get up to speed with the key aspects of a new complex technology quickly. They will also have a very good knowledge of the law and be excellent at expressing themselves both in writing and orally.

  • Attention to detail

    The details matter in IP cases and a good lawyer will have great attention to detail but will still be able to see the wood for the trees.

  • Integrity

    A good lawyer is not influenced by their own self-interest but will genuinely put the client’s interests and needs first. This is a very important factor as there will often be a huge disparity in understanding between the lawyer and the client such that the client is heavily reliant on the lawyer to recommend a strategy which is optimal for the client and not the lawyer.

  • Good in the trenches

    IP litigation can be a fast paced tough game. Some times the pressure is intense and the hours almost non-stop for days or weeks at a time. Does your lawyer have the resilience required.

  • Confident but not over-confident

    A good IP lawyer will not be pushed around and made to dance to the opponent’s tune but will also not be complacent about the merits of his own client’s case which he will continually question.

  • Organised

    Dealing with IP disputes that go to court is somehwhat like fighting a large scale military battle: often the outcome is determined well before the trial or battle begins. The team that has been better organised and kept track of all issues and documents has an enormous advantage over the team that less organised.

ABOUT US

Who We Are

Andrew Clay Legal is a specialist intellectual property (IP) law firm, headed by Andrew Clay.

We deal with the legal aspects of the commercial exploitation of IP rights and the enforcement and the defence of IP infringement claims. We don’t file applications for registered IP rights but have very good links with a number of excellent firms of patent and trade mark attorneys, who can handle such matters.

Andrew is one of the country’s leading intellectual property lawyers. Andrew has a first class honours science degree and was at partner level for over 20 years in one of the world’s largest law firms, heading that firm’s IP department for a number of years. Andrew is a deputy chairman of the Copyright Tribunal and also an editor of the CIPA Guide to the Patents Act. Andrew lectures both nationally and internally on IP matters. In addition to being a top lawyer Andrew is also a director of a number of successful technology companies and is the sole named inventor in relation to a number of patents relating to improvements in frying technology.

Our Philosophy

Our philosophy at Andrew Clay Legal is very simple: to provide IP advice of the highest possible quality at a reasonable price.

With nearly thirty years’ experience of doing IP at the highest level, there isn’t much we haven’t seen before. We are materially cheaper than larger firms as we have a much lower overhead foot-print.

CONTACT US

Please complete the enquiry form below and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible.

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