Our expertise

Woodhouse IP advises clients in a wide range of industries including entertainment and media, fashion, building, computer science, automotive, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, recycling, horticulture, software technology, medical, manufacturing, transport, sports, education, retailing, design and architecture.

Of particular interest is assisting New Zealand exporters to take their brand overseas, and at the same time helping overseas brand owners protect their brands in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands.

Woodhouse IP provides access to a bespoke team of IP professionals suited to your specific needs, providing expertise that is friendly, affordable, understandable, strategic, and practical.

Woodhouse IP offers:
• Brand creation
• Availability and ‘freedom to operate’ searching
• Trade mark filing, registration, opposition and revocation proceedings
• Negotiation, dispute resolution and litigation
• Commercial transactions and agreements
• Copyright identification, document dating and advice
• Coordinates and collaborates for you with patent and design specialists, creatives in all areas and also Government organisations to provide funding etc

See in detail below.

Brand creation

Its uncommon for lawyers to offer brand creation services, so how can it be one of the most successful aspects of Woodhouse IP? Marcus studied very widely at university including senior level papers in literature, art history, politics, philosophy and religion. Put this together with an honours degree in law and 22 years of IP experience and you have the perfect storm required to develop creative brands that are actually protectable. In addition to studio law Lucy has a degree in French and also studied linguistics. Brand creation specialists often create brands with little or no understanding of how to ensure the brands they create are legally protectable, let along available for use in the marketplace. It’s generally best to ensure your new brand is not going to run into insurmountable hurdles such as infringing another trade mark, or not being legally protectable against use by third parties.

Availability/Freedom to operate searching

It’s vitally important to conduct effective searches to ensure that you’re free to use a particular brand or technology. So knowing your search options and developing a cost effective strategy to conduct the searches is crucial. We work with you to develop search strategies that reduce your risk while fitting within your budget. We then carry out searches and provide you with understandable and practical advice on what you can and cannot do.

Searching is carried out locally and also worldwide.

Filing and registration services

IP filing and registration work requires a high level of strategy combined with a lot of experience and practical knowhow. There are numerous choices to make including what exactly to protect, the process to follow and what to do if you run into any issues. We make this process easy for you by taking the time to ensure you fully understand the options at each stage, and by providing you with reasonable costs. Wherever possible we also give you fixed costs to aid certainty.

Negotiation, dispute resolution and litigation

Avoiding disputes is one of the most important reasons to protect your IP. But if you do get into a dispute, it’s even more crucial to have the right protection in place, and the right people and strategies to steer you through the issues. We can help in all of these areas to ensure the process is handled effectively, efficiently and at a reasonable cost. In serious litigation matters we work alongside hand selected litigation specialists as well.

Commercial and transactional work

We can handle all your commercial IP needs including structuring your business and intellectual property ownership, transferring your intellectual property assets, licensing, negotiating co-existence agreements and creating commercial documents. Where necessary, we also work seamlessly with hand selected professionals to ensure that the right person with the right expertise handles your work.

Copyright

Copyright law overlaps with other areas of intellectual property such as trade marks, designs and patents. So most cases we handle have a copyright component. Whether you’re involved in manufacturing products, professional services or creating art or music, we can ensure your copyright is properly protected and enforced.

If any of these services sound of interest, or if you can’t see what you are after please contact us. We would love to help.