Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Intellectual property definition

What does Intellectual property mean? Intellectual property describes intangible legal rights in creative, technical and branding outputs used and enforced in commercial practice, often abbreviated to IP or IPR. In the UK and Ireland the term is descriptive rather than a single statutory definition; discrete rights arise under specific regimes, typically including copyright, patents, trade marks, registered and unregistered designs, database right, trade secrets and confidential information, and the common law tort of passing off. These rights are territorial, generally time‑limited (trade secrets/confidential information can subsist indefinitely if secrecy is maintained), and confer exclusive rights that can be licensed, assigned, charged as security and...

IP Licensing under English Law: A Practical Guide to Drafting, Negotiation, Enforcement, Payments and Termination, with Post-Brexit, UPC, Competition, Data and Registration Considerations

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

Practice notes

Licensing IP rights—introduction

Preparing IP licences often throws up intricate commercial and legal considerations, typically demanding extensive bargaining.

This Practice Note highlights the principal, practical matters to weigh up before you draft and while you negotiate an IP licence, seen from both licensor and licensee viewpoints.

At its core, an IP licence is the licensor’s consent allowing the licensee to use IP that it would otherwise be barred from exploiting.

Owners may exploit and commercialise IP as either a carrot or a stick.

Parties might agree terms for a mutually advantageous licence to create new offerings or reach fresh markets.

Equally, an owner may take a defensive stance, pressing for settlement licences and recovering settlement payments from those already using its IP without permission.

Accordingly, the initial position and broader commercial context will heavily influence both the negotiations and the eventual licence terms...

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Adam Coughlin

Bristows

Adam is an associate in the Commercial IP team at Bristows. Adam specialises in transactions relating to the development, commercialisation and transfer of intellectual property. Adam has particular expertise within the life sciences sector and advises a broad range of clients in this field, including start-ups, SMEs, academic institutions, investors and multinationals.Adam advises on a variety of life sciences and technology matters, spanning the commercial and academic sectors, including technology transfer and spin-out arrangements, research and development collaborations, IP ownership, financings, licensing deals and merger and acquisition transactions.Adam also has significant expertise in manufacturing and distribution arrangements, advising clients across the breadth of the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device supply chain.Adam is the Co-Chair of the Licensing Executives Society Young Members (Great Britain & Ireland)....

Claire Smith

Bristows

Claire is a partner in Bristows’ market-leading Commercial IP practice. Clients seek Claire’s support on many different types of commercial arrangements involving their most valuable assets - their inventions, ideas, technologies, brands, designs, software and content. These include anything from high value research collaboration and licensing deals, through to the intellectual property aspects of corporate or joint venture transactions, the large majority of which are cross-border. She works with a wide variety of organisations - ranging from start‑ups, SMEs and academic institutions to global multinationals and household names - and across a range of industries, most notably the life sciences, technology, media and consumer product sectors.Before becoming a lawyer, Claire spent a number of years working in quality assurance and operations roles in Abbott Laboratories' medical device business. Since being at Bristows, Claire has spent time seconded to the in‑house legal team of a...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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