Patent Boutique LLP is a firm of patent attorneys.
These provisions are designed to assist us in providing you with an efficient and effective service and will form the basis of our ongoing relationship.
A full copy of our standard Terms of Business, which must be signed and returned before we can work with you, can be found here. It should be noted that what is stated on this page does not replace our Terms of Business.
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.
We are members of The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, and the European Patent Institute (which is the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office). We are regulated by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPREG) and we are UK registered patent attorneys.
The IPREG Code of Conduct can be found at:
https://ipreg.org.uk/pro/regulations/code-conduct
We undertake to: (a) practise competently, conscientiously and objectively, put your interests foremost while observing the law and our duty to any court or tribunal; and (b) avoid conflicts of interest.
We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential.
However, we may be required by statute to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency or other authority where we know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing.
While acting for you, we shall gather information and documents which relate to you. We shall keep such information and documentation confidential, except where disclosure is required by law or regulation, or in other exceptional circumstances.
In general, we recommend that you restrict the release of, and maintain strict control over, any information not already in the public domain connected with instructions we receive. We would be happy to advise on the desirability of releasing confidential information to the public in specific cases.
Our privacy policy is available from our website or on request.
Both you and we shall comply with all applicable requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, known as the GDPR) and any national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation, as amended or updated from time to time, in the United Kingdom (i) unless and until the GDPR is no longer directly applicable in the United Kingdom, and then (ii) any successor legislation to the GDPR. This paragraph is in addition to, and does not relieve, remove or replace, either your or our obligations under the relevant legislation.
Without prejudice to the generality of the above, you shall ensure that you have all necessary measures in place to enable lawful transfer of any relevant personal data to us.
Our charges are principally based on the amount of our professional time spent on the matter, although other factors may also be taken into account. Such factors may include (but are not limited to) the size and complexity of the matter and the degree of urgency involved. We reserve the right to adjust our standard charges if highly specialised knowledge is required, or if the matter is complex and/or urgent. Fixed charges may be assigned to specific tasks (e.g. filing a patent application).
All actions and attention by us in providing the Services are chargeable, including (for example) both incoming and outgoing telephone calls, travelling, the sending of reminders and reporting to you on communications which we may receive from our foreign associates and other specialist providers, as well as in acting for you generally.
Our hourly rates are based on seniority and experience, but may also depend upon the nature of work undertaken. These rates are reviewed periodically. Our charges are calculated at the rates which are current when the work is carried out. Details of those rates and our typical service charges can be found here and are also available on request.
For all new clients, our policy is to seek adequate funds on account in advance of carrying out any work. Typically, adequate funds are considered to be an amount equal to the total disbursements payable as part of the work instructed (e.g. patent office official fees), plus at least 50% of our estimated professional fees (and any applicable VAT). However, we will be happy to discuss an alternative approach where appropriate. In addition, for newly formed limited companies, we expect the directors to be personally responsible for our reasonable charges and costs incurred in accordance with instructions made on behalf of the company. We may ask the directors to sign an undertaking to this effect.
(a) You will be responsible for any expenses incurred by us on your behalf. These expenses may include (but are not limited by) patent office fees, counsel’s fees, court fees, the costs of any experts or other agents (including any foreign lawyers), photocopying costs, couriers, certain telephone and fax charges, and travel and meeting expenses.
(b) Whilst our fixed charges and hourly rates are predictable, you should appreciate that local representatives’ charges and official fees are outside our control since they may be changed without notice and in the case of foreign matters vary with exchange rate fluctuations.
(c) If we instruct specialist providers on your behalf in connection with the Services, you agree we shall be entitled to make an additional charge to cover our related administration costs and any ancillary professional input by us. Details of such charges will be provided upon request.
VAT is payable by clients in the UK both on our fees and on most of the expenses which we are likely to incur on your behalf.
(a) If requested, and where possible, we will give estimates of future charges. They will be given in good faith based on knowledge existing at the time, but they are not binding unless we expressly agree otherwise, as charges may be affected by matters beyond our control and the amount of work involved often cannot be accurately forecast.
(b) If during the course of carrying out the work it becomes apparent to us that our actual charges are likely to significantly exceed our estimate, we will endeavour to seek your permission before exceeding our estimated charges.
Monies that we hold on behalf of clients (other than as advance payment of our fees or disbursements when already invoiced) are kept in a designated client account. Any interest earned on such sums is generally not credited to our client. Very small amounts of client money left in a client account after the expected charges have been incurred and paid for (amounts less than £10) will be donated to charity.
We are committed to high quality service and client care.
If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about our fees for the work done, please contact us.
Our complaints procedure is set out in full on our website and a copy is available on request. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the one of the regulatory bodies which govern our business, the Legal Ombudsman (for service quality) or the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPREG) (for professional misconduct) to consider the complaint and we will assist you in contacting the relevant body and will cooperate fully in their investigation. Please see our website for further details.
