Publishing

Our work covers all aspects of the publishing industry, from commercial contracts and corporate transactions to the acquisition, clearance and licensing of intellectual property rights and database rights, litigation, defamation, privacy and clearance issues. Our clients are both traditional book and periodical publishers and electronic publishers and, of course, increasingly both, as well as authors, artists, photographers, picture libraries and agents.

Our contract experience covers not only the traditional publishing agreements but also the exploitation of ancillary rights such as film and television rights and electronic publishing and related online rights. We understand the importance of rights management for all involved.

We are also familiar with the logistics of the industry including printing, warehousing and distribution arrangements.

Publishing

E-commerce, online publishing, and social media
Branding
Intellectual property rights
Advertising, marketing and sales promotions
Publishing contracts
Defamation, reputation, and image rights
Database rights
Information management and data protection
Commercial contracts
Distribution agreements
Licensing agreements
Outsourcing

Publishing

We advised listed intellectual property rights group Entertainment Rights PLC on its acquisition of the principal IP rights in 'Rupert Bear', the property held by Express Newspapers since 1923. The acquisition meant not only a significant rebranding and commercial reinvigoration for the character, but also a new ongoing brand strategy between Entertainment Rights and Express Newspapers. Our work included both the acquisition and ongoing production and distribution contracts, as well as IP due diligence on a property with an 80 year history.

We advised Opus Media Group on a series of high-profile publishing licence agreements in order to obtain the rights to publish a unique series of high-quality premium-priced books under the 'Kraken Opus' imprint. Licence agreements include Formula One, Arsenal, Manchester United, Diego Maradona and the NFL: these projects are ongoing and have attracted national media comment. We also negotiated related agreements such as product endorsement contracts with Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Alex Ferguson, image rights agreements with Joe Montana and Diego Maradona, and a photographers agreement with Walter Ioost.

We advised Reader's Digest on a range of major publishing, licensing and distribution agreements for high profile branded products including 'Noddy', 'Barbie', 'Pokemon', 'Jellabies', and 'Bear in the Big Blue House'. Readers Digest also publishes 'The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen' and we advised Readers Digest on its contract for the video production of 'The Animated Tales of Hans Christian Andersen'.

We advised The Mediterranean Science Commission (CIESM), the international organisation supported by 23 Member States to promote international research in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, on a claim for copyright infringement against the World Wildlife Fund relating to the publication of a series of scientific articles. This matter, which entailed detailed scientific and legal analysis, was concluded successfully in favour of CIESM including the issue of an agreed public statement by WWF. We first conducted a thorough investigation of CIESM's potential claim, including comparisons of specific scientific texts and materials. We then negotiated with the World Wildlife Fund with a firm but non-aggressive approach in order to achieve a negotiated settlement favourable to CIESM but also in line with its public ethics and standards of conduct.

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Publications

"They understand the publishing industry and our contacts, and I always feel that they really care about the end result." – Paul Stuart, Reader's Digest Children's Publishing

"Lawrence Graham has advised Kraken on a series of high-profile publishing licence agreements in order to obtain the rights to publish a unique series of high-quality premium-priced books under the 'Kraken Opus' imprint. Licence agreements have been concluded with Formula One, Arsenal, Manchester United, Diego Maradona and the NFL: these projects are ongoing and have attracted national media comment. These agreements have raised a wide range of challenging IP issues, and have entailed successfully negotiating with organisations for whom their IP is a core business asset for which rights will only be granted to a third party on legally and commercially robust terms. LG “held our hand” as we developed an understanding of the requirements to be met in our capacity as a licensee contracting with licensors such as Ferrari and the NFL, and ensuring that we were comfortable with the undertakings we would be giving under the terms of the contracts." – Paul Murphy, Finance Director, Opus Media Group