Marketing law and intellectual property rights

Certain forms of knowledge originate in such a manner that they are classified as intellectual property rights, a generic term for a number of different rights that are protected by law, whether by registration or by market incorporation.

Examples of IPR are trademarks, design rights, logos, domains, inventions and copyright, including software, source codes etc.

Our intellectual property rights services

Our intellectual property rights services include:

• Establishing the rights by, for example, assisting in registration processes.
• Contractual regulation of intellectual property rights, whether in an employment context and between businesses.
• Formulation of the contractual framework and safeguarding of rights that cannot be registered, for example the drafting of confidentiality agreements, restraint and non-competition clauses
• Advice regarding the development, enhancement and other forms of utilisation of intellectual property rights, including the drafting of licensing and royalty agreements, exploitation and transfer agreements, franchise agreements, research and development agreements.
• Advice regarding the implementation of practices and routines
• Advice for businesses in connection with acquisitions, including content acquisition and share purchase.
• Support in disputes linked to infringements, including dispute resolution in the courts or in cases handled by the Norwegian Industrial Property Board.

Closely related to these rights are those which lack corresponding legal protection, but where protection is often obtained on a contractual basis. Examples of this are commercial secrets, “know-how” and different forms of concept protection.

Knowledge-driven enterprises must retain a firm awareness with respect to how their intellectual property rights and associated rights are managed, which means that the company must recognise and protect the rights involved, while asserting them if infringed.

Closely allied with intellectual property rights is marketing law, which sets requirements as to how a company presents its goods and services in the market. Marketing law is designed to ensure that product pricing is not incorrect and that marketing is not misleading, incorrect or otherwise inn contravention of sound marketing practice. Moreover, it places demands on business practices, by prohibiting those that are incompatible with sound and appropriate commercial behaviour, such as product counterfeiting and marketing misconduct.

Our marketing law services

We provide the following marketing law services:

• Contractual support and advice
• Support in cases of infringement between businesses, such as product counterfeiting and the illegal exploitation of commercial secrets etc.
• Support for businesses and consumers in consumer-related cases, such as questions of unreasonable contract terms and statutory restrictions on marketing pursuant to the Marketing Act.
• Support in disputes linked to infringements, both in the courts and before other bodies such as the Consumer Authority and the Market Council

Marketing law is partially governed by the Marketing Act. Furthermore, this branch of the law is based on EU directives as well as the decisions of the EU Court of Justice.