Clarion, the organiser behind the January Furniture Show, has supported a new initiative for all exhibitors and visitors with the creation of a dedicated ACID Intellectual Property Clinic for the duration of the show.
The ACID team, comprises IP specialist experts from our legal affiliates, McDaniels Law, who will be on hand to give free advice on all IP matters including trade mark, copyright, patents, designs, and trade secrets during the JFS. They will be located in room1.1, which can be accessed from the Hall 1 entrance.
In the very unlikely discovery of an infringement, the ACID team will help to diffuse the situation with the Mediation Protocol, a means by which a complaint can be communicated, and they will help to provide solutions.
The ACID team will be on hand to collaborate closely with exhibitors and visitors to identify and define your IP and will be present to help and give advice to provide a tailored safeguarding strategy, anticipating and inhibiting potential infringements as well as giving advice on TM, design registrations and all other IP queries.
Clarion has also negotiated a 20% discount with ACID for the duration of the JFS for all new joining members. Clarion’s commitment to IP respect, compliance, and ethics has been to sign the ACID IP Charter.
James Howard, Show Manager, said: “I completely understand the value and importance of ACID’s services and we are grateful for their long-standing support for JFS 2023. The reality of the current state of economic uncertainty with tight budgets and rising costs is that it is a tough market in which to launch new products, so IP is even more important.”
Dids Macdonald, OBE., Past Master of the Furniture Makers and CEO of ACID, said: “So often when market share becomes challenging, copyists become emboldened to take the fast track to market through infringement without the expense of research, design, and development. It is for this reason that it is even more important to be vigilant and protect design-led intellectual property and we are delighted to support JFS 2023.”
