Many small businesses with great ideas never get to the point of being able to protect what they have and will often result in some larger business stealing or just taking over their ideas and nudging you out of the market. We have seen several small businesses owners just disappear off the radar only to see their products appear on other shelves with someone else’s branding.

To assist us with the protection of our member’s IP or Intellectual Property, we have asked the team from Spoor and Fisher to provide us with some guidance and legal support in this often complicated arena. Here is a short write up on who they are and what they do:

As  a  boutique  intellectual  property  law  firm,  Spoor  &  Fisher  offers  specialised services covering the entire intellectual property domain.  Any aspect of intellectual property law, including patents, trade marks, copyright and designs, related litigation, commercial transactions, due diligence and portfolio management can be dealt with by a practitioner having extensive experience in that particular field. Our trade mark department has specialist teams dealing with anti-counterfeiting and ambush marketing, while our patent department offers expertise in biotechnology, chemistry and pharmaceuticals, mining and mechanical inventions, nanotechnology, electronics, business method and computer software-related inventions. Over the years, the firm has developed close relationships with overseas intellectual property agents and practitioners, giving Spoor & Fisher and its clients a global reach.  At the same time the firm has a particular focus on providing services throughout Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.  Our main offices are situated in South Africa and Jersey, Channel Islands.

A good associate to have on board. If you have issues with IP or need more information, please download their IP overview manual here and get yourself educated before you lose what you already have. We will be writing regular articles on this topic and keeping up to date with news and views in the IP world here on this blog.