When engaging in an international architecture or construction project, it is essential for a firm to select a leading intellectual property law firm in India to protect its designs, logos, and other creative works. From initiating a new endeavor to expanding an existing project, the support from intellectual property law firms is necessary to guide development. Not only do these firms help navigate concerns of potential design copycats seeking to infringe on your work, they also help manage and allocate the intellectual property across the multiple countries and entities involved in a multi-national project. The impact of selecting one of the most competent top ip law firms in India may be seen through early selection of design elements and drafting of basic plans and sketches before entering into final agreements or contracts with third parties. The global need for consortium-based development, whether through design or execution, can be simplified and enhanced through the options now emerging in India. However, a project that is “implemented” in a foreign country, may also need foreign legal protection. For example, when a project implemented in India, involves allocating the rights to own, use, and apply IP for the project, it is important to have legal support to understand the ownership requirements in India. It helps to ensure your firm will have the rights that you need to develop a successful project. A company may find it beneficial to select from top ip law firms in India that are experienced with managing the rights relating to architectural designs, such as blue prints, sketches, graphic images, computer-aided designs, 3D designs, and site plans. Additionally, by having legal support to register any relevant industrial designs, patents, trademarks, or other intellectual properties within India or internationally, a company ensures its creations and inventions are protected. This, in turn, helps manage complex joint projects, partnerships, or collaborations involving several members. It also helps ensure that your company has the rights to use and transfer, or license, IP owned by others. When a company undertakes a global project, it may have several developers, architects, vendors, contractors, engineers, sub-contractors, and other service providers working with them. In addition to coordinating tasks, assignments, and deadlines, a project can also involve developing, implementing, and maintaining the rights to know-how, technology, products, systems, and services involving: In such cases, without appropriate legal safeguards, a project can have revenue leaks. To put it simply, without solid legal support to manage the IP rights for various intellectual properties and important assets involved in all stages of a project, a company may face challenges in taking some or all of the benefits from the project home with it. Therefore, without legal protection and support, it is possible for a firm to face external opportunities, or threats, of facing losing exclusive IP rights to implement a project, or face issues in securing permissions to utilize externally-held IP rights. This can impact the ability to move forward with a project as planned, as well as affect the revenue and other benefits to be received for the project. For example, a project can fail due to establishing contracts for sharing IP rights that are not enforceable, or due to not fully evaluating prior IP rights and developing its own rights before embarking on a major project. Furthermore, a firm may very well have negotiated a contract with a services provider for protecting its IP rights. However, without registering the property with the concerned authorities, the firm may find itself falling short of claiming its ownership rights in the project. Therefore, it may be necessary to engage a law firm that offers planning, registration, and ongoing support in enforcing IP rights related to the following: Also, changes are frequently made to IP rights laws across the globe. These include changes to patentable subject matter, criteria for protection of copyrights, patents, trademarks, and industrial designs. For instance, in India in 2016, amendments were proposed to Rules under the Designs Act, 2000 and Patent Act, 1970. Likewise, the Copyright Act 1957 has seen several amendments, such as extending the duration of copyright protection and enhancement of remedies. These changes in IP laws have led to new developments and challenges that a firm may face in development of its projects and its foreign implementation. We covered several IP law changes in India for the period of 2016-2020 in our article titled “Intellectual Property Laws in India: An Overview.” For these reasons, a company should engage a law firm that can manage IP rights in a dynamic environment, and not just when a project is initiated. It must be able to identify the relevant rights a firm requires for both domestic and international implementation of a project. The firm should also understand the licensing and management of IP rights if a firm utilizes technologies owned, or licensed, by its partners, or if it licenses-out its own technology to any third-party. Firms may also collaborate through consortium-based projects, which require skillful allocation of ownership rights, and designation of rights for final outcomes. This is crucial for commercializing the product or service once developed. Selecting one of the top ip law firms in India can help a company for development of a better international strategy to manage global IP rights. In doing so, your firm will have the necessary resources to assist in protecting, managing, and enforcing Intellectual Property rights. It is also critical for a company to have access to legal counsel that understands the development of IP rights in your industry and can apply this knowledge to your specific needs.
