Michael Edwards & Associates are able to supply end-to-end services to you, the intellectual property owner, from the moment of conception, to delivery to customers and beyond.

We are able to assemble a team of established experts with the appropriate skills to tackle your particular challenge quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively. We can manage the universe of your intellectual property needs, or else you can cherry-pick particular services to serve as an effective add-on to your existing in-house capability.

Advice and counsel

Intellectual property is now being recognised as among an organisation’s most valuable assets. What steps should you take to protect and enhance this asset? An objective, independent and confidential opinion, backed by years of experience in the field, can often bring perspective to a situation, identify the real issues and help map an effective strategy.
We have been able to add value to the businesses of several clients through helping them shape their strategy to develop, commercialise or protect their intellectual property.

Detection of infringement

Physical goods: Through our network of associates we can mobilise experienced professionals to carry out market surveys to detect the presence of counterfeit and pirate product, investigate its source and take appropriate enforcement action.

The Internet has long been an means of illicit distribution for digital products such as music, software, movies and books. We have developed state of the art systems on behalf of a major IP owner to detect and prosecute intellectual property infringement through automated systems integrated with their business processes. We would be able to customise this system to meet the particular needs of your products and your business processes.

Development and commercialisation of technologies

Primarily through our long experience with the music, film and also the software industries, we have been able to assist clients to develop their technologies to suit the needs of their target markets.

Intellectual property and brand protection

Product piracy and counterfeiting has been the growth industry of the 1990’s and the first decade of this century. Technological advances in manufacturing and printing now permit the production of near perfect counterfeits at a fraction of what it would have cost ten years ago. Throw in the freebooting commercial activity in China and the “Wild East” of Europe, the law and order vacuum in many of those territories, the collapse of legitimate markets for the former “tiger” economies of South East Asia, and the realisation on the part of international criminal and terrorist organisations that counterfeiting represents a relatively low-risk way of filling their coffers, and you have all the ingredients to put every well-known brand and every popular copyright product at risk.
Through our network of associates we can mobilise experienced professionals to carry out market surveys to detect the presence of counterfeit and pirate product, investigate its source and take appropriate enforcement action.
[See also Detection of infringement and Prosecution and litigation management]

Intellectual property portfolio management

Have you taken adequate steps to register your patents, trade marks, designs and domain names? Are you maintaining expensive registrations that you no longer need? Are you missing opportunities to exploit valuable intellectual property assets?
We can provide access to expert advice and systems to manage intellectual portfolios from the very smallest to the largest.

Prosecution and litigation management

What law enforcement agency will be effective and free from corruption? How does the criminal and civil justice system work in a particular country? What laws and regulations can you take advantage of in enforcing your intellectual property rights?
We can provide advice to guide you through the maze of legislation and regulation in the countries where your intellectual property has been infringed, either as an auxiliary to your in-house services, or filling the role of an in-house department.

Public affairs and lobbying

Successful detection, prosecution or litigation may treat only the symptom and not the underlying disease. Mobilising government support to eradicate the problem should be an essential part of the intellectual property and brand protection strategy.
More and more governments whose national intellectual property originators are at risk are taking a pro-active role in encouraging those countries where pirates and counterfeiters have set up operations to enact and enforce effective legislation.
We can help you ensure that your particular problems are given the proper prominence in this process.

Representation of independent record labels

Are you seeking to licence your recordings in Europe, Asia, the Middle East or Africa?
With over 20 years experience in the international music industry we are in a position to help you find the best partner for your music in each territory.

Rights management and licensing

With extensive music industry business affairs experience, we can provide advice, or act on your behalf in tracking use of your intellectual property in the on-line environment, licensing new media and other applications, or establishing models and systems for automated administration of rights.