Under the current economic conditions, no business entrepreneur (from the least to the most important) can afford to ignore the effects the ubiquitous intellectual property rights have on its future. While the efficient and informed use of these rights can help a business highlight the intellectual resources which make it competitive, ignoring them exposes the latter to significant damages and may also draw the criminal liability of the company and of its directors.
“If intellectual property rights held by a business may become one of or even the most important asset thereof, the inefficient exploitation of these rights or ignoring them leads, in most cases, to bankruptcy. For this reason, it is highly important that both the business environment and the state authorities responsible for drafting the legislative framework pay greater attention to this subject, and lay the grounds for a constructive dialogue among parties”, said Paul-George Buta, Senior Associate Muşat & Asociaţii, during the “Intellectual Property Management” seminar, organized by the Universul Juridic Publishing House.
Protecting intellectual property rights is an essential aspect for the business environment and economic progress in general, contributing to an increased the degree of innovation, added value and competitiveness. In this context, it is vital for economic players, but also for individuals, to understand the advantages that may be drawn from trademark-related rights, copyrights, patents or other intellectual property rights, but also the disadvantages associated to ignoring these rights.
“The protection grants exclusive rights to the holder, allowing the latter to maximize its operation income, to rely on the added competitiveness granted by the protected right under monopoly conditions, as well as to prevent competition acts which may tend to undermine its privileged position. Intellectual property rights are the only type of rights granting their holder such a comprehensive area of control, allowing it to appeal to the courts of law and to the coercive action of the State at any time throughout the duration of the protection. We are currently witnessing, in the intellectual property practice of Muşat & Asociaţii, a rise in the number of court actions, mainly in industries such as pharmaceuticals, staple goods, textiles and music”, added Paul Buta.
Paul-George Buta, Senior Associate Muşat & Asociaţii, specializes in Intellectual Property Law and provides legal assistance and representation services in the course of administrative proceedings relating to the registration of intellectual property rights (trademarks, patents, designs and models, semiconductor products, geographical indications, new plant species) and in litigations for companies active in various industries.
The expertise of Muşat & Asociaţii in Intellectual Property, one of the firm’s most dynamic areas of practice, has known a remarkable development over the recent years, both by the increase of the volume and complexity of the legal work, and by the expansion of its team of attorneys and consultants specializing in IP. Among the clients retaining the firm’s services in view of protecting the intellectual property rights or representing the latter before court in various litigations resulting from the breach of such rights, are multinational companies operating in a variety of industries, like Pharmaceuticals, IT&C, Energy, FMCG or Media, such as: Roche, Abbott, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Fortis Bank, Electrolux, Alcatel-Lucent, Google, Intel, SBS Broadcasting, Novachrom Industries, New Line Cinema (U.S.), Jones Apparel (Nine West), The Body Shop, Debenhams, The Peacock Group, Alka Group.
The IP team of Muşat & Asociaţii covers the full spectrum of legal advisory services, such as representing the client’s interests, in Romania and abroad, before the competent public authorities (the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks of Romania, the Romanian Office for Copyrights, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market), registering/protecting intellectual property rights for trademarks, patents, industrial models and drawings, copyrights and related rights, negotiating and drafting franchise, license and transfer agreements, intellectual property litigations arising from unfair business competition, comparative and misleading advertising, unfair business practices, counterfeiting. Muşat & Asociaţii was among the first law firms to acknowledge the development potential of this area of practice in Romania, setting up a division dedicated to Intellectual Property as early as 1998.