What Exactly is Intellectual Property Law?
Intellectual Property Law is an important part of business because it covers all aspects of ownership of ideas and inventions. It applies to concepts that are both tangible and intangible. It can be a very complicated area of the law and so it is usually only carried out by specialist attorneys. The ownership of ideas, concepts and products can be protected in a number of different ways and it will be up to the lawyer do decide which method of protection to use in each case. The most common tools that are used are trademarks, patents and copyrights.
What Does A Intellectual Property Lawyer Do?
An intellectual property lawyer mostly works with corporate clients. They will provide legal advice on things such as how viable an idea is commercially and how it can be marketed and distributed. They will also make sure that their clients have complete ownership of their ideas and will help take legal action against anyone who infringes the copyright or trademark.
In a large firm there is likely to be a department that specializes in intellectual property law and the lawyers there will deal with all the issues that arise in this area for the firm’s clients. Positions in firms like this are fairly hard to come by when you do not have a lot of experience. If intellectual property law is an avenue that you want to follow then applying to a smaller firm who specializes in this area may be the best choice when you are first getting started in your career.
The type of work that you do as an intellectual property lawyer will vary from day to day. If your clients have an idea that they believe is new, then it will be your responsibility to make sure that this idea is not patented or copyrighted elsewhere. This will involve a lot of research and can be very time-consuming.
If another party is acting in a way that infringes the copyright of an idea that your client owns then you will be involved in taking legal action against that party. This will start with initiating discussion between all the parties that are involved to see where any dispute has arisen. If a judge makes a ruling which is not in the best interests of your client then you will be expected to challenge this decision.
What Skills Do You Need As An Intellectual Property Lawyer?
Intellectual property can be a very interesting area of law but it also requires you to be very knowledgeable in a number of different areas. Good research skills are essential because you will need to be absolutely sure that any idea your client has does not exist elsewhere. This may involve going through a lot of legal paperwork so you need to be able to be able to read this information quickly at the same time as retaining this information.
A lot of time will be spent drafting contracts and agreements so it is important that you have expertise in this area. Any mistakes in these drafts could have serious consequences for your clients and so you need to have a good eye for detail to make sure that everything in the draft is accurate.
It is also likely that you will be working on several projects at one time. Some of these projects could be similar and so you would need to be organized in order to keep all of your cases separate. You need to be aware of any deadlines in each of your cases so that you can ensure you are able to meet these. There may also be times when deadlines change and so you need to be comfortable working under pressure.
A lot of the time your clients will not have such a deep understanding of the law as you do. However, they will still need to know what you are doing and how this impacts them. You will need to be able to communicate complicated legal matters to people who do not have any legal training. This is not as easy as you may think but it is an important part of the job so you will need to be able to do this.
