Copyright and Trademarks relate to areas of Intellectual Property law and can give protection for an original idea that is created and takes some tangible form.   Intellectual Property (IP) can be a brand, invention, design or other creation and can be legally owned.

Intellectual Property law provides certain rights for the original work produced, including restricting unwanted publication and preventing others making use of the work without the owners  permission.

Clarkes can provide specific advice and expertise on all aspects of intellectual property rights.  We can advise you if intellectual property protection is required, how best to obtain it, if you or your competitors’ intellectual property rights are valid and how to exploit your intellectual property rights for maximum commercial gain.

Trading standards investigations cover a wide range of potential offences such as trade descriptions, weights and measures, trade marks, copyright, consumer credit, and food safety.  If you are involved in a trading standards investigation it can be a distressing and disruptive experience.

Trading standards law relates to new as well as second hand goods and even applies to issues such as when the odometer is altered on a car to give a false mileage – amounting to a false trade description.  Any person who falsely describes goods or services that they supply, or offer to supply while operating as a business is guilty of an offence under the Trade Descriptions Act.

In some cases Trading Standards Officers will obtain the assistance of the Police to make an arrest of potential suspects and to search premises and seize property. It is desirable for individuals or businesses to seek legal advice at this stage.

Clarkes trading standards experts can advise on all aspects of trading standards law and represent clients facing trading standards investigations.  We will help you throughout any investigation and liaise with the investigating bodies, prepare written responses on your behalf and even represent you at interviews under caution, tribunal hearings or prosecutions through the criminal justice system.  In some circumstances it may be possible to negotiate with Trading Standards departments on alternative options to prosecution such as a written warning or formal caution.  We can also keep you up-to-date with Trading Standards law so you can remain fully compliant.

Clarkes have experience acting for clients with action brought against them from:

• Local Authority Trading Standards Departments
• Food Standards Agency
• Office of Fair Trading
• Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulation Authority

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 became law on 6 April 2008 and established a new statutory offence of Corporate Manslaughter (Corporate Culpable Homicide in Scotland).

The act makes an organisation liable to prosecution if its activities and the way it manages these  cause a persons death, amounting to a gross breach of its duty of care).

The new offence builds on the responsibilities that employers and organisations already owe to their employees and members of the general public, regarding to the premises they occupy and the activities they perform.  Previously, an organisation could only be convicted of manslaughter if a senior manager or director was also personally liablet.

To establish if an organisation is guilty of corporate manslaughter, the courts will look at management systems and practices across the organisation to establish if an adequate standard of care was applied to the fatal activity.  Juries will be required to consider the extent to which an organisation was in breach of its health and safety requirements and how serious those failings were. They will be able to consider the culture that exists within an organisation relating to health and safety issues. Poor attitudes of management that result in a lower standard of care than could reasonably be expected will be punished.

This legislation is far reaching and can potentially affect all companies, from sole traders and partnerships through to public limited companies.  At Clarkes we are able to offer advice and assistance and even representation during any Health and Safety Prosecution.