AI Issue 5 2017

Acquisition International - May 2017 39 Clear Direction and Focus we can handle every aspect of the IP, including arranging and officially recording sales (assignment of the IP) and licences, as well as the administrative tasks such as registering a company’s name change against the IP. Most importantly, many IP rights require the payment of annual renewal fees to keep them in force, and our renewals team is expert in handling these routine but time-critical and essential payments. Looking ahead, 2017 and the next few years will be an exciting time for intellectual property, and especially for UK firms like Forresters. Following the Brexit vote and the subsequent triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, we are fully focussed on ensuring that our clients do not lose any rights when the UK leaves the EU. With our Munich office and balanced team of qualified attorneys, we are already future-proofed against Brexit and we will have no difficulty offering the same full range of European services in the future. Meanwhile, we are watching and waiting to see how Brexit develops and how it will affect IP. The planned Unitary Patent system (an almost EU-wide patent and corresponding court) is still intended to start shortly but is presently on hold, at least in part due to Brexit, but we will be ready to act and advise our clients as soon as the system moves forward. With our ever-growing team, Forresters is all set and looking forward to a very bright future.