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Licence to Create: Ward Hadaway’s IP Lawyers

Posted 26th Jan 2011 at 01:46 by Charlie Hankers

Intellectual property law is often seen as only affecting creative concerns, but in reality it affects all businesses. That said, it’s often the creative companies that are entrusted with the tricky task of compliance, which is why Laura Harper, Head of Creative Industries at Ward Hadaway, thought setting up shop in Manchester’s newest hive of inventiveness would be a great idea.

‘Intellectual property’ can trip up laypeople when they’re asked to define it, so let’s start by injecting some authority, courtesy of Laura: “Intellectual property rights span the protection of the intangible. So you’ve got hard intellectual property protection, which is broadly patents and registered design; that covers inventions, inventive processes and products. Then it goes through to trademarks, which would protect brands and the goodwill embodied in a particular brand, and then through to the softer side, which is copyright, and copyright would protect any original idea once it was recorded in a permanent form, so that can be music; it could be literary work; it can be dramatic work. So intellectual property is the umbrella term for those three or four main ways of protecting creative and inventive output.”

The lack of education on copyright worries Laura, and she lectures to screen and gaming students on the subject. “As the economy and the workplace changes and becomes less focused towards manufacturing and more focused towards creative digital online businesses, the output of those businesses will be based upon intellectual property. It’s the way that those businesses make money, so it probably should be taught at least at university in your business modules that you do.”

Unfortunately, the lack of education can lead to disempowerment in the commercial world. “If you get bad advice, for example being told, ‘Right, that’s yours, don’t tell anyone about it. It’s your copyright. Until you’ve got to a stage where you can agree terms, don’t tell anyone about it’, your idea will never see the light of day and you’ll never make any money from it, so it’s all about balance. What people need is some basic advice, which will tell them what their rights are and tell them how to protect their work but by the same token inform them about how the sector works and what’s expected, and to perhaps give a little information and throw a little bread on the water to try and get some sort of return.”

After a stint at a London publishing company, Laura studied law at York and specialised in media and intellectual property at her elective stage. Then it was back down to London to work with another publishing company (but not in a legal capacity), and this is when she became inspired to throw everything into a career in the legal aspects of the creative industries. “I thought, right, I want to do this. I want to work in this particular sector. I don’t want to do family. I don’t want to do crime. I want something that’s a bit more creative. So I applied to law firms for my training contract up here in Manchester. I wrote to people who were specialists in intellectual property and asked to meet them and asked them what the best way to approach it was. I was very lucky because I met some really positive people who said, ‘Great, we’d like to work with you and come and work with us.’ And so ever since then I’ve specialised in intellectual property and working within that sector.”

Laura’s journey to The Sharp Project, setting up shop in June 2010, was relatively straightforward. “I was doing some work with Manchester City Council and some people there, knowing my practice area and my client base, asked if I had heard about this project in East Manchester. They asked if I wanted to take a look, and I was invited to come down and look around. At that stage it really was just a warehouse, and it had some sets in the production space and a single container but that was pretty much it. But I thought it was a fantastic idea. I came back a second time to meet Sue Woodward and to chat about what I was doing. At that stage it was just to find out more about what was happening here. That was when Sue suggested I move in and I thought it was a fantastic idea, and more importantly it fitted in perfectly with my business strategy to become more accessible to creative businesses. I was delighted with the offer, went back and spoke to the partnership who went for it – which was fantastic but quite unexpected, to be honest!”

Laura’s experience of working in Sharp is positive; and at the time of interview it was not even half full, but already her firm was making important connections internally. “The whole structure of The Sharp Project is set up so that people can just sort of come in and out of your office, so no two days are the same, which is fantastic. Every day you get queries or someone coming in. I think the way it will develop will be that this will continue. People will keep coming in and talking to each other, and the ideas spark because someone will come in and tell me about a particular project, and from my viewpoint I’ll say, ‘I know so and so here; they do a similar thing,’ or, ‘They’re interested in this,’ or, ‘Have you seen this person or have you been to this event?’ And then things start happening and you start creating a critical mass. It’s early days yet, but that’s how it started to happen. I’ve worked with a couple of the companies here already, and now there are certain other projects in the pipeline, so I think that will hopefully grow and continue because it’s all about learning about different organisations, how they work, and also building up a relationship and trust, and growing with the different businesses at their various different stages. So I think that hopefully will continue. You become part of an ecosystem, part of the environment.”

Die-hard city-centristas sometimes cite Sharp’s distance from the centre of Manchester (a camel-parching 2.5 miles from the Northern Quarter) as a bar to setting up here. While distance won’t affect work itself, they perhaps have a case when it comes to nearby cafes, shops and restaurants in which to spend lunch hours and entertain clients. However the new Central Park Metrolink station, putting Piccadilly minutes away, plus businesses building up organically around the Project and the new Police HQ, plus Sharp’s in-house café equals plenty of places to get your pies. What does Laura think about working in the wilderness? “It doesn’t feel like a chore, no. We have meetings in town quite a lot but we’re straight into the Northern quarter, aren’t we? If you go down Oldham Road you’re straight there and it’s not a problem at all. People are at the moment and probably will continue to be very interested to come and visit us and see what’s going on here, and that’s absolutely fine. I don’t really mind. But this place is so accessible, as it has had to be because of its history. It’s a warehouse! It has to be accessible by roads, you know, so it’s easy to get from A to B.”

A vital part of the creative industry, intellectual property law looks set to grow in importance as the UK economy continues its shift towards the digital industries. With this being The Sharp Project’s sector, having a top 100 law firm such as Ward Hadaway under its roof is a natural but hugely welcome development. It gives our digital businesses the backup they need to be confidently creative and profitable.

Charlie Hankers

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Licence to Create: Ward Hadaway’s IP Lawyers