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is Claire Lazenby, a Fellow of the Institute of Trade
Mark Attorneys, and former member of its governing council,
and editor of its monthly publication for the review
of new case law on UK and EU trade marks and designs.
She has contributed to several publications, including
Trade Mark Law: A Practical Anatomy and the Community
Trade Mark Handbook, published by the Chartered Institute
of Patent Attorneys and the Institute of Trade Mark
Attorneys and is a tutor to the Institute's students.
Claire graduated from the University of London in 1986
with a degree in English law, specialising in Intellectual
Property Law and European Competition Law. She has practised
in the law of trade marks ever since, training with
a number of firms in private practice including Grant
Spencer Caisley and Porteous. From 1995 to 1999 she
was a senior in house trade mark attorney for GlaxoWellcome
plc (now GlaxoSmithKline) working primarily on the development
and registration of new trade marks and non-proprietary
names for new compounds for the treatment of HIV. Claire
is also an OHIM (Community Trade Mark Office) Professional
Representative and a Committee Member of the European
Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA) and the International
Trademark Association (INTA). She is also a holder of
the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys John Parker Memorial
Award. |
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A Simple
Charging Structure
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Other than to
charge for disbursements incurred on a client's behalf
- and these are billed at cost - the only other charge
is time spent in providing advice. And this will usually
be charged at no more than £100 per hour. In contrast
to the more traditional charging model followed by most
trade mark and patent agencies, clients are not charged
any standard service fees. Clients can be assured that
their money has been spent on thinking
time and not on internal office administrative
tasks. |
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This may be particularly
attractive to clients seeking representation before
the UK Registry for handling simple provisional refusals
of UK designations of Madrid Protocol registrations.
They will not incur the standard overhead costs of recording
the UK firm as address for service before the Registry
or for filing extensions of time. |
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Flexibility
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For clients who
are UK residents, the consultancy does not insist on
being the address for service for all official correspondence,
thus giving clients primary control of the conduct of
their cases. |
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Clients may elect
to receive advice as if the consultancy were their own
in-house department - clients may maintain their own
files, conduct advice meetings at their premises, have
advice recorded as internal memoranda, etc. |
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The consultancy
operates up to 9 pm UK time. Contact hours are therefore
longer than the usual UK working day. This enables faster
turnaround times for clients across the US. |
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Reciprocal arrangements
with other well-regarded UK trade mark consultants are
in place, to ensure emergency or holiday cover. |
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Pharmaceutical-Specific Services
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There is an emphasis
on advising newly incorporated companies, particularly
in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry sectors.
Typical issues include advice on the selection of a
company name - and domain names, where appropriate -
which can then be developed at a future date as the
company's house mark for its products and services.
This is to encourage companies to avoid the frequent
predicament of, after several years' trade under their
company name, finding themselves unable to use it as
a trade mark since to do so will infringe a third party's
rights. |
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The consultancy
has particular expertise in the conduct of negotiations
on behalf of small pharma and biotech companies for
securing trade mark co-existence agreements with big
pharma, so preventing costly oppositions or infringement
actions. |
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There is also
an emphasis on advice on how the procedure for approval
of a trade name from the UK Medicines Control Agency,
the FDA, and the European Medicines Evaluation Agency
impacts on the creation and selection of a trade mark
for a pharmaceutical compound. |
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The consultancy can also deal with the entire process
for the creation of non-proprietary names, including
filing applications at WHO for RINN status (recommended
international non-proprietary name).
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Project Management Out-Sourcing
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The
consultancy will also be happy to handle specific large
projects, for example the collection and drafting of
evidence in opposition or invalidation proceedings,
or pan-European clearance searches, as an out -source
facility to larger corporations who may already have
established in-house trade mark departments in the UK
or overseas. |
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Training
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Claire is also
available to provide training, seminars and tutoring
on any trade mark related matters. |
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I look forward to
being of service to you. |
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