Intellectual property and data protection
Protection of the intangible assets of a business: brands, technology, content and trade secrets - plus the lawfulness of personal data processing and legal readiness for cyber incidents. A natural pair for technology and consumer companies.
Why businesses choose this PROCTOR practice
In the economy of today it is intangible assets that increasingly make up the main value of a business.
That is why the PROCTOR team handles intellectual property comprehensively - from the creation and registration of rights through to their commercialisation, international protection and representation in court.
We integrate intellectual property into the overall corporate strategy of the client, taking account of financing, investment, tax planning, international expansion and the digital transformation of the business.
For our clients this means not only the protection of a single brand or technology, but the building of a system for managing intellectual assets, one that raises capitalisation
Licence agreements and assignment of rights
Structuring the commercialisation of IP: licences, franchising, assignment of economic rights, royalties. The agreements are built so as to protect the rights holder against the dilution of rights and against non-payment of remuneration.
Defence against unfair competition
Countering the copying of packaging, the imitation of a brand and free-riding on reputation, through the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the courts. Recovery of fines from infringers and an end to the unlawful conduct.
IP due diligence in M&A
Review of the IP portfolio of a target company before a deal: clean title, chains of assignment, encumbrances, risk of challenge. An assessment of whether the company really owns the technology and the brands it is selling.
Lines of work
The services this practice runs.
- Intellectual property enforcement and disputesWe protect copyright and related rights in software, content and design, and recover compensation for unlawful use. We conduct disputes over infringement of rights in trademarks and patents, over counterfeit goods and over domain names, including under the UDRP and UA-DRP procedures. We put a trade secret regime in place and protect know-how.
- Personal data, GDPR and cybersecurityWe bring data processing into line with the GDPR and the Law of Ukraine «On the Protection of Personal Data»: audit of the processes, legal grounds, the roles of controller and processor, the DPO. We draft privacy policies and contracts with processors, structure cross border transfers, support data leaks and cyber incidents, and audit IT systems.
- Trademark and intellectual property registrationA full cycle of registration with the Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations and under international procedures (the Madrid System, the PCT, the Hague Agreement): identity searches, filing of applications, responses to refusals, maintenance of the rights in force.
How we build protection of intangible assets
The work starts with an inventory of what the business owns and ends with the rights secured and the data processed lawfully.
01
Inventory of assets
We list what the business actually owns: brands, source code, design, databases, know-how. The client receives a map of the assets with the gaps in the rights marked.
02
Securing the rights
We formalise rights where they are not secured: registration applications, contracts with authors and contractors, deeds of assignment of economic rights. The outcome is a chain of title with no breaks.
03
Audit of data processing
We check on what grounds the company collects personal data and to whom it passes them. We prepare a record of processing and a list of non compliances with the GDPR and Ukrainian law.
04
Contracts and policies
We draft licences, NDAs, trade secret regulations, a privacy policy and contracts with processors. The documents agree with each other rather than each living on its own.
05
Response to infringement
When a right is infringed or a leak happens, we act on a ready scenario: preservation of evidence, a claim, court proceedings, notification of the regulator within the set deadlines.
Ways we work on IP and data
The format is chosen for the task: from a single object or document to standing support of the whole portfolio.
A single question
One registration application, one contract or one privacy policy. Suitable when the task is clearly defined and a finished document is needed by a set date.
Support of a workstream
Handling a whole block: registration of a portfolio of marks, building a trade secret regime, or bringing data processing into line with the GDPR from the audit to documents in use.
Standing portfolio support
The team runs the intellectual assets and data protection on a permanent basis: monitoring of infringements, maintenance of the rights in force, updates to policies, response to incidents.
The industries we do it in
The sectors of business this practice works in from the first day.
