On the 26th of May the grace period granted by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to comply with laws on cookies ended. Websites have since been subject to a higher risk of sanctions if they fail to comply.

Before...

Many people breathed a sigh of relief following the Guardian’s take on last week’s ‘watering down’ of  EU regulations by the ICO which impact on the use of cookies by UK websites....

The Xbox 360 risks being banned in America if the US International Trade Commission (ITC) agrees with the initial findings of its Judge David Shaw, handed down in April.

Shaw found that Microsoft, owner of the Xbox brand, had...

With the Olympics approaching, one slightly less predictable aspect of the games has been attracting attention: intellectual property. Just like other businesses, the London 2012 Olympic Games has a brand it is keen to protect....

Currently, patents granted by the European Patents Office (EPO) must be validated in the individual countries where protection is sought. This is a costly and time consuming process typically involving full translation of the...

You buy a book, finish it, sell it second hand via Amazon marketplace- for many this approach to buying goods has become fairly common practice. Especially with sites such as Ebay, Preloved and Gumtree, it has become easier and...

Lisa Rosen recently wrote an interesting guest blog post on Onstartups, which gave an insightful analysis into the benefits of starting your own business. She controversially states that not going into business and remaining...

Legally Branded is a new title by Shireen Smith of Azrights Solicitors, which fills a gap in the market by providing accessible, and easy to understand explanations about intellectual property law and brand law for business...

The Olympics is a time of sport, athleticism, and competition. However, it is not just athletes who are competing, but the brands sponsoring the event are also involved in their own brand race. Whilst many are tuning in to see...

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, famous for being the most decorated Olympian of all time, may be getting attention for all the wrong reasons recently. He appears to have landed himself in trouble with the International Olympics...

 Trade mark registration is the way to own a brand name, and regular readers will likely appreciate the importance of taking steps to ensure their brands are available, and securing them early on when launching new...

Shireen Smith’s  speech was delivered at the launch party of the Legally Branded book which was held at the British Library on 11 September.

I wrote the book Legally Branded because I believe every business...