Overview
Your commercial objectives are our focus when securing ownership of, or building a strategy to exploit or protect, your intellectual property. We have advised clients on a vast range of issues relating to the commercial exploitation of intellectual property. We offer expertise in commercialising intellectual property, including preparing and negotiating licence agreements or identifying and ensuring the smooth transfer of rights in acquisitions or divestitures. Our experience includes advising on complex copyright, trade mark, patent and design issues that impact on commercial transactions.

As an integrated practice, which includes patent and trade mark registration firm Freehills Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys, our partnership with clients extends from the initial creation stage to the commercialisation of your intellectual property. We aim to enhance and build the value of our clients' business by using our legal knowledge and commercial experience to assist our clients to sustain and improve their competitive advantage - their intellectual property.
Typical transactions we advise on include:

• assignment and licensing of intellectual property
• research and development agreements, collaborative research agreements, CRC agreements, feasibility agreements, evaluation agreements, clinical trial agreements, technology transfer agreements
• software agreements, including licences, development agreements, maintenance and support agreements
• internet and website agreements, including content, website development, linking agreements, portal agreements and internet security service agreements
• franchise agreements, including providing advice in relation to the Franchising Code
• sponsorship agreements
• entertainment agreements, including agreements relating to the grant of rights, film agreements, supply and staging of entertainment
• publishing agreements acting for both publishers and authors, including e-publishing agreements
• distribution, manufacturing and supply agreements
• joint venture agreements, shareholders agreements, sale of business/shares/assets agreements where the significant assets are intellectual property
• intellectual property audits, including due diligence investigations and reviewing processes in relation to the creation, exploitation and protection of intellectual property rights (intellectual asset management)
• advising pharmaceutical and life science companies on the regulatory issues that affect the commercialisation of their products.

Where other commercial issues, such as the taxation of royalty and other income streams, ESOPs and listing requirements arise in transactions, we draw on the wider resources of Freehills to assist. This ability to draw on all of the technical and legal expertise required to advise on commercial transactions involving intellectual property distinguishes Freehills from other firms.