Enter to open, tab to navigate, enter to select
About PLC IPIT & Communications
Practical Law UK Help and Information Notes 3-102-3264 (Approx. 6 pages)
About PLC IPIT & Communications
| Maintained |
A description of the scope of the PLC IPIT & Communications online support service. If you would like to trial the service please click here and register your details.
PLC IPIT & Communications is an innovative online support service for specialist IP, IT and communications lawyers (both contentious and non-contentious), and general commercial lawyers who advise in these fields, whether in-house or in private practice.
The service is designed to keep its users up to date with developments in key areas of IP, IT and communications law, and to provide them with practical support through guidance notes and other resources. It brings to a wide range of practitioners a high-quality level of support that is currently only provided within a few large firms by professional support lawyers (experienced lawyers who are no longer fee-earning). It also enables firms which already have a professional support function to concentrate their internal resources where the greatest return lies.
Components of the service
PLC IPIT & Communications comprises:
- A weekly updating service delivered by e-mail and on the web.
- Practice notes, standard documents and checklists that are available online and continually updated as developments occur.
The service covers the following areas of UK law:
- Intellectual property
- Confidentiality
- Copyright
- Databases
- Designs
- Passing off
- Patents
- Research and development
- Trade marks
- IT and information law
- Data protection
- Freedom of information
- Information technology
- Communications and media
- Communications
- Internet
- Media
- Privacy
Regulatory developments in the life sciences sector are not currently included within the scope of the service, but access to general information on that sector is available in the form of the PLC Life sciences multi-jurisdictional guide.
Updates
The updating service is delivered weekly (or you can choose to receive it monthly) by e-mail and via the website. It covers, within the areas of IP, IT and communications law referred to above:
- New and draft UK and EU legislation.
- Consultation papers from the European Commission, the UK government, the UK Intellectual Property Office, Ofcom and other relevant national and supranational bodies.
- UK case reports.
- EU case reports.
- Practice notes issued by the UK Intellectual Property Office.
We monitor all the appropriate sources within the categories described above, review the developments for relevance and report on those which raise points that are of significance to practitioners. Websites are a key source of information for this purpose, and we monitor a comprehensive range of sites on a daily basis.
Rather than simply passing on raw information, updates explain the legal and practical implications of new developments with the requirements of the busy practitioner in mind:
- Each update contains a summary of the relevant development, explains the relevant background where necessary and analyses the legal and practical impact.
- The updates are complete in themselves, but where appropriate include hypertext links to external source documents (including transcripts for new cases) and, where relevant, to other materials within the service.
The updates can be integrated with subscribers' internal briefing and marketing materials.
For an example update, see ECJ judgment on Interflora v Marks & Spencer advertising keywords reference.
Practice notes
Practice notes contain concise explanations of key areas of IP, IT and communications law, and discuss the practical application of the law to particular transactions or sectors. For experienced lawyers, they provide up-to-date and reliable statements of law and practice, while junior lawyers can use them to gain an understanding of relevant areas not yet acquired through practice.
The notes are continually updated by PLC's specialist IP, IT and communications law editors as developments occur.
For examples of practice notes, see Overview of Passing off and Main issues in software licensing and maintenance contracts.
Standard documents
The service contains precedent agreements, checklists and other documents used in IP and IT transactions, including agreements for the transfer and licensing of IP rights, R&D agreements and IT contracts (including agreements relating to e-commerce and the internet). All standard documents are accompanied by drafting notes giving detailed guidance on legal, negotiating and drafting issues.
The standard documents are continually updated by PLC's IP and IT editors as developments occur, on the same basis as described above in the case of practice notes. They are available in Microsoft Word 6.0 format with logical styles, automatic contents table, numbering and cross-referencing (see How do I use the PLC Word template?). For detail on how to download PLC's standard documents as Microsoft Word documents formatted in a firm’s own house-style, see PLC Firmstyle.
For a sample, see Software licence agreement (pro-customer) and its drafting note.
Multi-jurisdictional guides
PLC IPIT & Communications provides access to the following multi-jurisdictional legal information (which is updated on a broadly annual basis):
- The Media multi-jurisdictional guide, which includes country-specific Q&As on media law in 21 jurisdictions around the world. The Q&A guide gives a structured overview of the key practical issues concerning media law. It covers the following sectors: film; TV (broadcast and internet); publishing; video games; music; and sport. In each section it considers various matters, such as a general overview of the sector, tax reliefs and state funding, regulation and classification, legal protection and contractual structures, and litigation. Answers to questions can be compared across a number of jurisdictions to assist in the management of cross-border transactions (see Country Q&A tool).
- The Data protection multi-jurisdictional guide, a cross-border and comparative guide to the application of data protection regimes in key jurisdictions worldwide, including a chapter summarising the basic principles of the Data Protection Directive and 17 country-specific Q&A chapters. A Country Q&A tool allows subscribers to compare answers to questions across a number of jurisdictions.
- The IP in business transactions multi-jurisdictional guide, which brings together practical information on topical cross-border IP issues, country-specific Q&As on IP law and practice, and details of recommended IP lawyers and law firms in jurisdictions around the world. Again, answers to questions can be compared across a number of jurisdictions to assist in the management of cross-border transactions (see Country Q&A tool).
- The Life sciences multi-jurisdictional guide, a comprehensive guide to the law and lawyers in this practice area worldwide including cross-border features on the regulatory framework in the US, IP protection, the latest developments in competition law and corporate issues, and country-specific Q&A chapters with practical information on the laws governing life sciences law in 30 jurisdictions. A Country Q&A tool is also available with this guide.
Powerful technology
The service is delivered through PLC's website using specifically developed technology to provide a seamless source of managed know-how to the practitioner in an easy-to-use form:
- Searching. All the text is fully searchable, using our Google-powered search facility. Searches can be done across all material or restricted to selected types of material (for example, only practice notes).
- Know-how index. Special technology is used to index material, which greatly improves the searching process.
- Links. Frequent hypertext links guide users around the site, taking them quickly to relevant material.
- Integration. Subscribers can integrate their own know-how with materials in the service, while maintaining confidentiality.
Professional support team
The Practical Law Company professional support team comprises over 100 experienced former practitioners covering a wide range of practice areas: see PLC professional support team to view their profiles. For details of the members of the team with experience relevant to the IPIT & Communications service, see PLC IPIT & Communications professional support team.
Consultation board
The service has a consultation board of leading experts. They advise on the direction of the service and are used as a sounding board on points of law and practice. See PLC IPIT & Communications consultation board to view members of the consultation board.
Subscriber comments
"We find PLC IPIT & Communications a timely and important resource that is very straightforward to use. It is considered a key reference tool by the team."
Jane Clavin, Knowledge Services Manager, A&L Goodbody, Ireland
"Indispensable for the IP&IT lawyer. The documents and articles are an essential tool in the fast evolving areas of IP&IT law. The quality of content is first class and the service is uniquely focused toward the needs of the practitioner."
Rupert Tate, Assistant, Bond Pearce
"This is an excellent service which enables lawyers in the media sector to keep abreast of developments in the law and its practice."
Jonathan Sellors, Partner, Finers Stephens Innocent LLP
"PLC's web services are second to none in the market place. They employ experienced lawyers with specialist expertise and this shows in the quality of their materials. I rely on their IP/IT update, for example - it’s extremely well-written and, unlike other update services, manages to contextualise key developments. I always use PLC resources as a starting-point. When looking for precedent material, for example, I will search the PLC site for clauses and guidance materials before asking our professional support lawyers to find useful material from other transactions we have advised on. PLC web services compliment our internal resources perfectly. They provide the high-quality generic know-how the building blocks if you like - allowing us to concentrate on firm and client-specific know-how. It’s like having an additional, invisible professional support team."
Robbie Downing, Partner, Baker & McKenzie LLP
"Basell is one of the biggest players in the polyolefins industry with production facilities throughout the world. The Legal and Intellectual Property teams are based in Europe and the USA. All members of the teams have access to and actively use the services rendered by PLC. We especially appreciate the broad range of areas covered, the up-to-date information given on various legal subjects, the checklists and practice notes which have proven to be a good basis to start from. We also appreciate the e-mail services on special areas. The new search tool based on the Google technology has further facilitated the practical use of the PLC tools."
Jens Pohlmann, General Counsel, Basell Polyolefine GmbH, Germany
Benefits of the service
The service will be a cost-effective resource for any lawyer, solicitor or barrister, in private practice, in-house or otherwise, who advises on IP&IT matters. It will help:
- Save lawyers' time and enhance their capacity to do fee-earning or client-related work.
- Improve the quality, speed and accuracy of the service to clients.
- Bring trainees and newly-qualified staff up to speed quickly and effectively.
- Enable firms and legal departments with professional support lawyers to focus more resources on developing firm-specific know-how and innovative solutions to transactional problems, and spend less time on routine information-gathering.
- Concentrate more attention on using know-how for marketing purposes and making the practice more competitive.
- Attract, maintain and motivate good lawyers.
Further information
For further information, please contact Guy Baring on +44 (0)20 7202 1239 or e-mail [email protected].