» Is It In Writing?

Our free online Resources include a number of guidance notes plus our popular Top IP Tips to help get you started.

Lawyers are known for being obsessed with getting things in writing! Business people often do not see the point, or are in too much of a hurry, or have other priorities for their cash than spending it on drafting contracts.

There are a number of precedents available on the internet which provide a starting point for contract drafting. However the problem with many of these is that the significance of the clauses which you are using – or not using (either because they are not in the particular precedent you are looking at, or just because you do not realise how important they are) is not always clear.

While I do not always advocate that instructing a lawyer to draft your basic contracts is critical – indeed many successful business people operate without written agreements – it is much easier to manage your business if you are aware of the various issues involved when working with third parties. The exercise of contract drafting does not just give you legal certainty with your business partners it also alerts you to issues which you may not yet be aware of.

My area of legal expertise is intellectual property. I therefore draft a lot of licence agreements. Many clients come to me who do not have written licence agreements in place although they do have licensees. A licensee is someone who is using your intellectual property (whether a trade mark, copyright, patent, design right, know how or confidential information) with your knowledge and usually your approval. (A franchise arrangement for example will therefore always have a licence element.)

Where there is no written contract reflecting the terms of your relationship with your licensee the law will infer a number of implied terms.

« Back to Resources page

© 2007 SARA LUDLAM www.ludlams.co.uk