Intellectual Property
About

Intellectual Property

Contact Details

Dai Davis, Partner, Percy Crow Davis & Co
Telephone: 07785 771 721
E-mail: daidavis@iee.org

Introduction

Dai Davis has been a specialist Intellectual Property lawyer for nearly thirty years.  Having started his career at the Leeds precursor to international law firm Eversheds Sutherland, he became a partner and rose to become national Head of Intellectual Property law and subsequently national Head of Information Technology law at Eversheds.  He then headed the Intellectual Property and Information Technology Group at Nabarro in the North for over eight years.  He now works in his own specialist practice, Percy Crow Davis & Co.  Dai has a reputation as an Intellectual Property Lawyer both nationally and internationally.  Indeed, Dai has been consistently recommended in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 directories for most of the last three decades.

Dai is a Freeman of the City of London through the WCIT (Worshipful Company of Information Technologists) and a non-executive director of FAST (The Federation Against Software Theft).

Dai specialises in non-contentious Intellectual Property projects and advisory work.  He is involved in the preparation, licensing and acquisition of Intellectual Property as well as distribution, agency and other types of collaboration agreements, particularly those with a greater amount of intellectual property subject matter.  Dai gives strategic advice as well as undertaking work that is of a more transactional nature.  He is involved in transactions of all sizes, including some major transactions, particularly Intellectual Property sales and acquisitions in which the transaction value is high.

Dai acts for both owners (licensors) of Intellectual Property as well as licensees.  While some buyers for whom Dai acts are larger quoted and unquoted companies, many of Dai’s clients are owner managed businesses or privately owned.  Indeed, Dai is pleased to give initial strategic intellectual property advice to start-up businesses: even one man (or woman) bands.

He also works on Intellectual Property litigation matters, particularly on agreeing settlement terms which involve the licensing or restrictions on use of Intellectual Property.  Although he works with clients who are involved with all types of products and services both large and small, Dai is also a Chartered Engineer and many of his intellectual property clients are engineering companies.

Dai has the added benefits of two masters degrees: one in Physics and the other in Computer Science.  He is also an active member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (“IET”).  His expert knowledge of technology has led Dai to become a sought-after speaker on intellectual property law subjects.

He has chaired an International Standards legal advisory committee for over a decade and is a recipient of the International Electrotechnical Commission’s 1906 award.  He has been a Council member of the Licensing Executives Society of the United Kingdom, a body of professionals dealing in intellectual property licensing, for more than a decade.  He has recently been Treasurer of that Society.

Specific Transactions

Examples of Intellectual Property law work in which Dai has been involved in recently are:

  • Retained to draft a series of intellectual property rich standard terms and conditions including standard terms and conditions of sale; standard terms and conditions of purchase; standard terms and conditions for engaging consultants; standard terms and conditions for the provision of maintenance; stand-alone warranty (guarantee).
  • Advising manufacturing companies on the intellectual property protection of their products: including products such as chemicals; metering; cabling; electronic switches; medical devices.
  • Advising companies involved in various means of transport including ones working in the automotive, train and aeroplane industries on intellectual property matters.
  • Advising a large privately owned engineering conglomerate on sub-contracting issues arising out of its involvement in a major engineering project, with particular reference to cross-licensing arrangements in respect of its intellectual property.
  • Advising consumer web sites on their trading terms and conditions and site set-up, including web sites supplying electronics, heating equipment, disability equipment, caravans as well as a general trading site.
  • Advising a number of multi-national chemical companies over the years on toll manufacturing agreements, multi-party knowledge pooling agreements (task forces) as well as other more regular forms of Intellectual Property licensing.
  • Advising companies on the establishment of distributors or agents for their products inside and outside the United Kingdom including in countries such as Australia, India, Japan, Scandinavia and United States of America. Dai has also been involved in worldwide licensing agreements.
  • Undertaking due diligence exercises on Intellectual Property assets (including licences) on the procurement of businesses (both directly and on the sale of shares), working for business angels, private buyers, venture capitalists and listed company acquirers in this context. Also advising vendors in preparation for such due diligence exercises.
  • Advising a listed PLC on becoming the exclusive licensee of certain print technology for a seven figure sum.
  • Advising a large privately owned engineering conglomerate with a number of patent related issues, both in terms of its own inventions and the potential infringement of third party rights, both in the United Kingdom and abroad.
  • Advising a government department on various issues arising out of patents and trademarks which it owned, including effecting sales and licences of certain of those Intellectual Property rights.
  • Advising a manufacturing company on delicate licensing matters, including business continuity, in particular those arising where the main business involves the production of a product the patent in which is owned by a third party.
  • Advising companies on the competition law aspect of commercial arrangements to licence their technology.
  • Advising businesses in many different industries, including advertising, chemicals, software licensing, dry cleaning, general engineering, property letting and solicitors on trade mark infringement issues, both as potential plaintiff and defendant. Advising a web-based trading company on occasional minor trade mark violations where it had breached third party rights and assisting in the settlement of the same.
  • Advising several web-based trading companies on copyright infringement both as the claimant and the defendant.
  • Advising a brand promotion company on a dispute regarding copyright ownership.
  • Advising an advertising company on passing-off (breach of unregistered trade mark rights) in respect of their trading name.
  • Advising a medical devices company on a manufacturing agreement by which its patent-protected product is manufactured by a third party.
  • Advising a listed PLC on the acquisition of a medical closure device for a seven-figure sum.
  • Advising and assisting in settlement agreements in respect of several patent disputes, including for large PLC clients.
  • Advising an author on contractual issues surrounding his book publishing agreement.

Further Information

  • In addition, Dai has had considerable experience advising in the specialist area of safety related systems and on related European technology regulations including the Machine Safety Directive and the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive. He has advised companies of all sizes on this highly specialised and technical area including larger ones such as: Alstom, A-Pex Industries, Astra-Zeneca, CSE International Limited, Daniel Europe Limited, Dyson, Finlux, Harris Semiconductors, Hazards Forum, ICI, Intel, Inventica Technologies, ITH Pharma Limited, Laidler Associates, LDV Limited, Lloyds Register, NEC, Pace Micro Technology Limited, Schaffner, Schlumberger, Siemens, Tandberg Educational Limited, TRW Limited, Tyco Industries, West Pharmaceuticals and York University.
  • Dai Davis is a qualified engineer. He is the convenor of the International Electro-technical Committee TC56 – Legal Advisory Group (IEC TC56 being the organisation which is responsible for drafting international maintainability and dependability standards for technology products).
  • Dai Davis gave public seminars recently for organisations including the Society for Computers and Law, British Computer Society, Central Law Training, the IET, MBL seminars, Licensing Executives Society, ISSA (Information Systems Security Association), ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association), FST (Financial Services Technology) Secure Information Conference, Falconbury, SMi, Butterworths, GA Training and CNet Training as well as numerous private paid-for presentations to larger companies.
  • Dai has been an active member of the Licensing Executives Society Laws Committee for many years. For the past ten years, Dai has been on the governing Council of the Licensing Executives Society (the main organisation in the United Kingdom representing Intellectual Property licensing practitioners).  He is now treasurer of that Society.  He is a past chairman of the IT & E-commerce group of that Society.  He has been for two decades and continues to be an active committee member of the Society for Computer & Law (Northern Branch), during which time he has also been chair of the Northern Branch and served on the national committee of the Society.
  • In recent years, Dai has been featured or quoted in a number of publications on IT and IP related matters including: The Guardian, Financial Sector Technology magazine; Computer Weekly, The Register, Computing, World On-Line Gambling Law Report, LES News Magazine, Retail Technology Magazine, Privacy Laws & Business, Leeds & Yorkshire Lawyer and the Municipal Journal. He has also given comment on air to BBC World News, the Voice of Russia and County Radio and made a podcast for the Yorkshire Post.  A couple of his talks can be viewed on http://tv.theiet.org/ and at http://www.youtube.com/manchesterbcs

Note: This Capability Statement deliberately excludes Information Technology law (including data protection law).  For a Capability Statement covering those subjects, please contact the author.

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