London: Head office
This is also the office of Rouse Legal (formerly Willoughby & Partners)
11th FloorExchange Tower
1 Harbour Exchange Square
London
E14 9GE
UK
how to find us: Map & Directions in PDF format, or Google Maps
Contact information
telephone: +44 (0) 20 7536 4100fax: +44 (0) 20 7536 4200
General business enquiries email: london@iprights.com
Operational finance enquiries please email: globalfinance@iprights.com.
Public Holidays / Office Closures
This office will be closed for the following public holidays during 2008:-
Europe regional practice
We conduct a Europe-wide practice from our UK offices.
The 'Europe' serviced by us stretches from the Atlantic coast to the hinterlands of the Black Sea and from the North Sea to the shores of the Mediterranean. It encompasses the European Union, the European Economic Area, ex Soviet bloc countries such as Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria, the countries of the former Yugoslavia and the ex-USSR as well as drawing in Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan.
Our European team is made up of lawyers, patent and trade mark agents, qualified, and with a wealth of practical experience, in a range of jurisdictions. They are supported by in-house information services and researchers. Our collective experience covers more than 36 jurisdictions in Europe, across a wide range of industry sectors including the clothing, motor vehicle, pharmaceutical toys, publishing, food and drink, technology and footwear industries.
We travel regularly throughout the region and have hand picked a network of external lawyers, trade mark agents and information services with whom we work closely. We have also invested time in developing relationships with Customs and other administrative authorities in the region.
Rouse services
clearance, filing and registration
We provide a full Intellectual Property searching, filing, prosecution and portfolio management service throughout Europe using state of the art technology. Patent filing services are provided by our wholly owned subsidiary, which trades as Rouse Patents. Our trade marks group has extensive experience of filing and prosecuting UK, Community Trade Marks and international applications.
Exploitation
We provide general Intellectual Property advice and handle a wide variety of non-contentious commercial Intellectual Property work throughout Europe including:
- Negotiating, structuring and drafting a wide range of Intellectual Property related agreements from the perspective of pan-European compliance;
- Providing assistance with strategic planning having regard to the need for businesses to comply with a wide range of EU regulations such as competition (anti-trust) laws;
- providing specialist Intellectual Property and IT support for corporate deals (such as mergers, acquisitions and securitisation transactions), from conducting due diligence investigations into Intellectual Property assets to drafting and negotiating Intellectual Property warranties and registering security interests under Intellectual Property legislation; and
- Conducting Intellectual Property audits and advising on appropriate strategies and policies to ensure the return on investment in Intellectual Property is maximised.
We are also frequently instructed to undertake comparative studies of national European laws and their practical effect. Recent projects of this kind have included advising on parallel importation, data protection and TRIPs compliance issues.
Enforcement
Our international enforcement experience means we have special expertise in the design and implementation of regional enforcement programmes, including the development and regular use of state of the art databases. Our European practice makes extensive use of these programmes.
We have established excellent contacts with numerous Customs authorities in Central and Eastern Europe and work with them to establish monitoring programmes, providing them with back-up and support in relation to seized goods.
Our experience in these jurisdictions has enabled us on occasion to assist in the development of the law and judicial practice as we have been able to provide the Courts with information as to how equivalent laws have been applied elsewhere. We have also, through our work with various committees, provided comment and input on the drafts of new Intellectual Property legislation in Eastern Europe.
Investigation services
Our specialist in-house investigation unit provides Intellectual Property investigation services throughout Europe and beyond. It is regularly able to trace conterfeit product from European markets ro manufacturing source outside Europe.
Education and training
We are closely involved with training programmes organised by the European Patent Office, the World Customs Organisation and the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
Members of our European team also regularly give lectures on topical Intellectual Property issues and prepare Alerts for clients on new developments in the law. We also run a regular programme of Country Seminars which focus on the law and practice in national jurisdictions in the region.
