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Terms of Business - 28 July 2010These are the terms of business (Terms) on which we carry out all professional work on your behalf. We offer different service levels and options for certain areas of work, such as trade mark registration services. These terms form the basis of our ongoing relationship with you. Where we also send you an engagement letter, then in the event of a conflict between the terms of the engagement letter and these Terms, the provisions of the engagement letter prevail.
For sales of goods and services via the telephone or internet, the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply. However, you will have no cancellation rights if we have already begun to do your work within the 7 day cancellation period. Your purchase through our e-store is an offer which we will acknowledge initially by email. It is our sole discretion whether to accept the contract and if we choose not to do so, we will cancel the payment process, and refund you in full. Our dispatch of a VAT invoice does not constitute acceptance of the contract. Our welcome email advising of next steps constitutes our acceptance. Our qualified staff and consultants are either Solicitors or Trademark or Patent Attorneys and must comply with their respective codes of professional conduct as well as the firm as a whole being subject to the Solicitors Regulation Authority regulations. Personnel assigned to your matter All work will be carried out under the supervision of Shireen Smith, Solicitor, with the assistance on design and patent matters, of Michael Harrison, who is a European and Chartered Patent and Trade mark Attorney. Certain patent work is undertaken by Erica Dutton, who is also a European and Chartered Patent Attorney, while administrative and legal tasks are carried out by Adam Zanjani, Trainee Solicitor, and Stefano Debolini Paralegal. More information about our people is available on the About Us page of the website. We aim to provide continuity of personnel to deal with your matter, and will advise you in writing of any changes, and the names and qualifications of any other personnel assigned to your matter. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of our dealings with clients, third parties and employees. We will perform the engagement with reasonable skill and care and acknowledge that we will be liable to you for losses, damages, costs or expenses caused by our negligence or wilful default up to the limit of our professional indemnity insurance, which is £3,000,000 for any single event or series of connected events worldwide. Details of the policy are available on request. We do not seek to limit our liability for death, personal injury, fraud or reckless disregard of professional obligations. While we will always work to the best of our ability and with the information provided, there can be no guarantees regarding outcomes. Discussions on likely outcomes are based on our experience and professional judgment. We will not be liable for any delay in performing or failure to perform our services if the delay or failure results from any circumstance beyond our reasonable control (an event of "Force Majeure"). If Force Majeure occurs, the date for performance of our services will be postponed for as long as necessary, provided that if Force Majeure continues for more than 60 days either party may cancel the affected services immediately on written notice to the other party. You may send queries to us by any method of communication. If you would like to speak to a particular individual and they are unavailable to take your telephone call, they will email to book a mutually convenient time to arrange a telephone conference. Emails will generally be acknowledged on the same day and where possible will be responded to in substance within one week. Explanations as to when a substantive response is likely to be given will be given within that time frame. Similarly, other written correspondence will be replied to within one week unless further investigation or inability to contact others prevents this, in which case we will notify you when a substantive reply will be sent. Professional obligations and confidentiality We will practice competently, and objectively, putting the interests of our clients foremost while observing the law and our duty to any Court or Tribunal, and also to avoid any conflict of interest. Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of their clients confidential. This obligation, however, is subject to a statutory exception: recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed solicitors under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money laundering, the solicitor may be required to make a money laundering disclosure. If this happens, we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it because the law prohibits ‘tipping off." Confidentiality and outsourcing of services We are under a strict professional duty of confidentiality to you, and although we reserve the right to use subcontractors or external agencies for call answering, typing, legal drafting, legal expertise, technology, data filing and back up services, book keeping, research, photocopying, printing, searches, and such like we will take care when selecting these persons or agencies to ensure that your confidential information is safeguarded. You agree that we are authorised to disclose that you are a client of the firm or that we have acted for you on a particular matter. We hold data electronically and destroy originals of all documents within up to 6 months of an electronic copy having been made. Should you require your documents in future, then we reserve the right to make a reasonable charge for preparing physical copies. Quality standards As part of our quality standards, following the initial contact regarding a new matter, we will confirm with you by letter the scope of the work. This letter should give you a clear understanding of what is being undertaken. We welcome any questions or concerns so as to avoid any future misunderstandings. It is important that we are able to identify who is our client. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, we are entitled to assume that the person (including an individual, firm or company) providing us with the initial instructions in relation to a matter is our client, including persons buying our services. So, if for example, we accept instructions from lawyers (whether in the UK or abroad) they, and not the persons for whom they act, will be our client and responsible for settlement of all our invoices and for reimbursement of all our costs and expenses incurred in carrying out their instructions. If the client wishes us to make invoices out to and accept payment from another person, then we shall be pleased to do this. However, the responsibility for settling such invoice remains with our client. We welcome instructions from new clients and startup companies. For all new clients we have a policy of requesting funds on account before carrying out any work. Also, for newly formed limited companies we expect the directors to be personally responsible for our reasonable charges and costs in connection with instructions made on behalf of the company. We may ask the directors to formally acknowledge an undertaking to this effect in our favour. Any extra time it takes us to obtain verification of joint instructions will be charged to the client in full. Where we are instructed by joint clients, or by a director or partner of a company on a matter that requires the consent of the other directors or partners, then we are entitled to only proceed with a given course of action once we are satisfied that it accords with the wishes of the other joint client, director or partner as the case may be. 3. Estimates, fees and expenses We will give you an estimate of likely costs at the outset, and wherever possible this will include fixed fees for known elements of the work. We currently provide various services, including searches, courses, copyright assignment, statutory declaration, design logo registrations and trade mark registrations on a fixed fee basis, and further explanations about these services and what the scope of the fixed fee covers are set out in these Terms.
Design and Copyright Registrations For logos which have been made publicly available for less than 12 months design registration in the UK or EU is available. The legal fee for design applications is £99 for a UK and £250 for an EU design registration. The legal fee for applications via our Azrights service is £300 for a UK and £500 for an EU design registration. We only file applications once we have full payment of the relevant official fees. The official fees are set out below in the section headed "Other fees, VAT, Official Registry/Government fees". For logos we provide a copyright assignment solution plus a statutory declaration for proof of use. This is priced £250. Trademarks - UK and European Word or Logo Briefly they are Azright Online, Azrights Standard, and Azrights Enterprise. The Azrights Online and Azrights Standard are available to purchase through our e-stores. Azrights Standard word mark registration legal fees are £790 covering a three class application in the UK and £990 for a three class EU application. Logo trade mark registrations are £200 more than these prices. The Standard trade mark includes an Enhanced Search, and if there is a problem with the first name, then provided a second name is chosen within one week of the search results a subsequent second search will be provided without extra charge. For additional classes beyond three legal fees of £100 per extra class are charged. There are also official fees to pay as set out below in the section headed "Other fees, VAT, Official Registry/Government fees". Azright Online word mark legal fees are £295 covering a one class application in the UK and £510 for a three class EU application. Logo trade mark registrations are £100 more than these prices. The Azright Online prices do not include a search which is available for purchase separately at £75. For additional classes beyond one, legal fees of £60 per extra class are charged. The reason for the difference in price between Azrights Standard and Azright Online trade mark registration services is that less time is included under the Azright Online service. Only time needed to process the application and oversee it through to registration is allowed, and queries or additional support requested attract an extra charge. The Azrights Standard service also includes wider searching. Examples of situations where extra fees may arise are where work outside the scope of the retainer arises, such as consultancy to discuss the search results at greater length and take subsequent action, or if there are objections or oppositions to the trademark, or where you require more support than is included within the trade mark service purchased. Where additional searching is required for Azright Online, an Enhanced Search may be purchased. For general information on further fees see ‘Hourly rate billing and scope of fixed prices'. Azright Online special offers provide packages to suit the needs of clients looking to register both a trade mark and a design. For a word trade mark search and application in 3 classes plus a design registration the prices are discounted and are as follows: UK Word Trade mark and UK design registration for logo for £472; EU Word Trade mark and EU design registration for logo for £750. Official fees are payable in addition as detailed below.
Other fees, VAT, Official Registry/Government fees For EU applications we include an administrative fee of £95 plus VAT to cover currency fluctuations, expenses such as bank charges, copying, and postage.. Where we offer a fixed sterling equivalent for official fees payable in a foreign currency these are converted at the prices prevailing that week and the fixed price will apply regardless of subsequent currency fluctuations for one week from the date of the issue of the invoice. Thereafter, it is at our discretion whether to invoice to reflect an increase in the currency exchange rate. Official fees for the relevant services are: Trade marks - £170 for a UK application in one class, and £50 per extra class. For European trade mark applications the official fees are 900 Euros for up to three classes and 150 Euros per extra class beyond three. Designs - £60 for the first design in the UK and 350 Euros for the first design in the EU. All prices are exclusive of VAT, which is added to legal fees. Government fees are VAT exempt. Hourly rate billing and scope of fixed prices Further work required, such as during a UK or CTM trade mark application, is agreed with you in advance and budgets set. The fee will depend on the work entailed, and is usually invoiced at the end of the month in which the work is done (although we may, at our option, request payment in advance). Once we offer to do work for a fixed price, time we spend on that matter in the interim before you formally proceed with the fixed price work, is chargeable at our hourly rate of £250.in addition to the fixed price offered. Our fixed price packages and estimates assume you will provide us with the instructions in the form requested, and you will review documentation we send you to progress the work in a timely fashion. Otherwise extra charges may be incurred. Similarly, if there is further work for us to do than anticipated, such as if the matter becomes urgent or if it becomes obvious the value or nature of the work to be undertaken differs from that originally envisaged an extra charge may arise. Where possible we will advise you of the appropriate increase as soon as we know. Our estimates and fixed prices are principally by reference to the time involved, although our fees also reflect what is fair and reasonable to both you and us, having regard to all the circumstances. In particular we ensure the work is undertaken by the person best suited to the task, taking account of the level of experience required and the complexity of the work, and the urgency of the matter. Time spent on your matter includes reading and working on your papers, emails and other correspondence, writing up notes of meetings and conversations, obtaining quotes for you from agents abroad and preparation of any detailed costs calculations, and time spent travelling. We charge in 6 minute units for email and telephone conversations, so for example, a telephone call of up to 6 minutes is priced at £20, while an email exchange is also £20. Searches may be carried out by us, by Patent Offices or by an independent specialist search firm. Due to the limitations and occasional errors in classifications, computer databases and errors in official records, and due to incomplete information we may be supplied with prior to a search, no search can be guaranteed for fullness or complete accuracy. Our searches are of the UK and CTM trademark registers unless otherwise specified. So a basic EU trade mark search searches the CTM register but not the individual country registers of the 27 EU states. However, the Enhanced search does include an identical search of the individual country registers. Our free trade mark word search is an exact name search to establish whether the same name is already registered. Such a free search is purely indicative. It should not be relied upon as a pre filing trade mark search. Our basic pre filing trademark word search at £75 is an identical search which aims to assess both whether the exact word is already registered on its own as well as in combination with other words. The search we provide with Azright Online is an identical search. Our Enhanced Search includes an identical search, as well as some similar sounding name searching and wider Google searching as part of our aim to reduce the risk of a failed trademark application. More extensive trademark searching including searches of the individual member state trade mark registers and international search solutions are available. Please enquire directly.. Our logo search aims to discover whether there are conflicting logos registered as trademarks. The discrete graphical elements of the logos are identified and searched on, such as the font or any devices. Due to the way in which logos are classified by trademark registries the inherent nature of logo searches may result in less precision. No guarantees are given that names or logos searched will be problem free during the trademark registration process, and you should satisfy yourself that the searches you have requested are adequate for your purposes. Should the trade mark search reveal an existing trade mark which makes it inadvisable to file an application in the intended name or logo, we will do a further search within the price of the Azrights Standard trademark. Only in exceptional circumstances do we issue refunds or credit notes. It will depend on how much of the work we have already done as to whether any and how much refund is available. Trade mark work is front loaded, so that time spent on the matter once the search is completed could be quite substantial. If in exceptional circumstances we agree to make a refund we will in any event add an administrative charge of £80 and refund a proportion of the amount paid based on the work we have done up to then. Subsequent to filing your application, if for any reason the application fails there is no entitlement to any refunds of legal or registry fees unless we have specifically given you a guarantee of success following our search, in which event we would refund the legal fees paid, but not the official fees. Any guarantee we give is limited to absolute grounds. Azrights On Call is an opportunity to get expert legal advice at pre agreed rates depending on the work you will require and the service level agreed with you. Alternatively, the On Call could be a retainer to cover set amounts of time pre allocated to your project for a given quarter. On Call is not suitable if you have intensive, urgent work to be undertaken, such as during litigation. Payment must be made in advance for the quarterly package of your choice. Small project option - around 3 hours of time £630 Moderate project option - around 6 hours of time £1050 Larger project option - around 12 hours of £1800 The quarter dates are: 1 April-30 June 1 July-30 September 1 October-31 December 1 January-31 March So, if you purchase a package during one quarter, you may use our time during that quarter (on a non urgent basis). The fee entitles you to receive advice and assistance on legal matters that are within the scope of our knowledge and expertise, for the amount of time purchased. The work will be carried out under the supervision of Shireen Smith, Solicitor, assisted by staff and consultants who work with Azrights. Unused time may not be carried forward to the following quarter if you do not make any or full use of the facility in any quarter. The On Call Retainer Package offer is not available in conjunction with other fixed price work such as for trade mark registration or patent searches and drafting. If you want a continuing retainer package, then we will set up a standing order. You may however withdraw from On Call and cancel your commitment to the standing order by giving us 30 days notice at any time. Any disbursements incurred on your behalf for work performed for you during any quarter will be included in a subsequent disbursement invoice. We reserve the right to increase the retainer charge, or to withdraw our On Call Retainer Package facility on giving 30 days notice (provided that any increase or alteration will not affect any package you have already purchased for a quarter). We will undertake all work for you by phone or email. If you require further legal help over and above the amount of time purchased through your On Call package, it will be charged at our normal hourly rates. However, we will first notify you that an additional charge will be involved before you incur the expense.
By using our naming service, you agree to use Azrights trade mark filing service once a name is selected, whether this is a name we put forward, or one that you yourself invent. If we are involved in litigation on your behalf and you are successful against an opposing party, you may be able to recover a proportion of your costs from the other party. Costs orders are in the discretion of the court and you should bear in mind that even if you win, your opponent may not be ordered to pay all of your costs and indeed may not be capable of paying those costs. If your opponent is legally aided it is unlikely that you will recover your costs even if you are successful, due to the nature of Legal Aid Orders. Where we are representing you in court proceedings, you are responsible for payment of our fees irrespective of the amount of any costs that may be awarded by the court or recovered from the other party. We will charge for our work in seeking to quantify any costs which the other side is ordered to pay, including work in the preparation of the bill and other papers. The cost of this work is often not recoverable from the other side whatever the outcome. If you lose the case it is probable that you will be ordered to pay all or some of your opponent's costs as well as your own. We will also charge for our work in seeking to minimise any costs that may be payable to the other side. Disbursements Invoicing In general once we have done the work, or (if it is a matter that requires work spanning over more than one month) at the end of the month, we issue a final or interim invoice, and use the amount held on account towards settlement of the invoice. We then account to you for the monies held, and either request a further payment, or reimburse surplus funds, if any (should the work be at an end). Whenever we are holding monies on account of costs for you, then we are entitled to transfer the monies into our office account once we issue an interim or final invoice for the work in question. For ongoing work, or if ad hoc work arises while we are doing fixed cost or other work for you, unless otherwise agreed we invoice you monthly at the end of each month for work done in that month. Invoices should be settled within 14 calendar days, otherwise interest will be charged at 4% over the prevailing Barclays base rate, in accordance with Article 5 of The Solicitors (Non-Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 2009. You have the right to have your invoice assessed by the court under sections 70, 71 and 72 of the Solicitors Act 1974. Where you instruct us to register domains for you we may first require a power of attorney, and acceptance of our letter of engagement for domain registrations. You agree to comply with the money laundering obligations in clause 5. You accept that we will communicate with you electronically via email and the internet, and this includes communications or records that we may otherwise be required under applicable law to provide to you in written paper form. You agree that we may provide such communications or records by means of electronic communications, and if you are concerned about the fact that the internet is neither secure nor private you will inform us in writing of your concerns so that we may discuss with you alternative ways of communicating. Unless we receive your written objection to use of email, you accept that we cannot guarantee correct message routing or promptness of delivery. You undertake to provide us with all information, assistance and materials that we may request from time to time to facilitate our proper and timely performance of our services, and you warrant that all such information provided to us will be complete and accurate. We ask you to give us timely written instructions. Patent and Trade mark offices often impose time limits and we accept no liability if you do not provide clear and complete instructions early enough for us to act within those time limits. We will normally advise you of time limits, and of actions or instructions that are required, but we do not undertake to give reminders. If we receive late instructions, we may not be able to implement them in time. In the event of late instructions or late payment to us, urgency charges may be incurred, which will be passed on to you. Change of address Indemnity for threat of infringement proceedings Copyright in materials we produce Overall limit on the scope of our services The law requires solicitors as well as banks, building societies and others, to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of their clients. To enable us to satisfy our obligations under the Money Laundering legislation, we reserve the right to check your identity at any time through credit reference agency checks, including asking you to supply appropriate proof of identity before we are able to act or continue to act for you or for any principal whom you may represent. We will also not be able to receive any funds from, or pay any funds to you or on your behalf unless all necessary identification and other procedures have been satisfied for the purposes of the Regulations. Please also see further provisions relating to these matters in the section entitled "Professional obligations and confidentiality". For individuals and partnerships, the proof of identity we will require will usually be a current valid passport, photo card driving licence showing your current address, recognised identity card or equivalent showing your name, date of birth and photograph, together with a current utility bill, recent council tax demand or equivalent confirming your address. For companies, we may require a copy certificate of incorporation or copy audited statutory accounts together with personal identification in respect of the company's officers. In the light of the Regulations and for insurance reasons we do not normally accept cash payments from or on behalf of clients and then only in special circumstances and for limited amounts of no more than £1000. If you circumvent this policy by depositing cash direct with our bank we reserve the right to charge for the time it takes us to deal with the administrative and other implications of your actions on us as a regulated body. We expect to enjoy a good professional relationship but in the event that you feel you have cause for complaint, then initially please contact the principal of the firm, Shireen Smith. If she is unable to resolve the problem to your satisfaction we will refer your complaint to Ruth Gladwin Solicitor. If you are still unhappy with the outcome then you have 6 months in which to ask us to request that the Legal Complaints Service intervene in the matter. We appreciate and act on feedback from clients. Any comments that you may have to improve our service should be directed to Shireen Smith. We are bound by the Solicitors Regulation Authority's Code of Conduct and in some instances may not be able to act for you or may have to terminate the retainer for good reasons, and reserve the right to terminate the retainer if you withdraw consent to receive electronic communications from us. Other good reasons allowing us to terminate the retainer will include conflict of interest, failure by you to give instructions, misrepresentation of critical facts, or withholding of relevant information or acting contrary to our advice. Another good reason when we will terminate our retainer is where we persistently have to chase you for an acknowledgement of our communications, and also where you fail to pay our fees. Where feasible we will try to identify any issues in advance and discuss these with you before informing you of our decision to stop acting for you. English law shall apply to the construction and interpretation of our contract with you and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to resolve any disputes arising under it. It is not intended that any terms of our engagement with you shall be enforceable by a third party, whether under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise. Acceptance of terms of business By engaging our services you are deemed to accept these our terms of business even if you do not sign them, unless you tell us otherwise within 7 days of instructing us. If you are acting on behalf of a company or partnership, you warrant that you are authorised to contract on behalf of that company or partnership. Furthermore, if you are acting on behalf of a newly formed limited company you agree to be personally responsible for our reasonable charges and costs in connection with instructions made on behalf of the company, and will confirm your personal liability to us in writing on request.
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