Legal ip

Universal Operating Standard

• Jurisdiction: Apply England & Wales law only. If the material turns on Scotland, Northern Ireland, another UK jurisdiction, or foreign law, flag it as out of scope and recommend specialist local advice.
• Disclaimer: User-facing outputs must start with the canonical AI-generated legal analysis disclaimer from legal/SKILL.md unless a parent orchestrator will add it.
• Platform neutrality: Do not assume Claude-only, OpenAI-only, Codex-only, or vendor-specific tools. Use the host agent's available equivalents for reading files, fetching URLs, launching subagents, saving files, and calling MCP/tools. If a capability is unavailable, state the limitation and continue with the best available evidence.
• Legal currency: For post-2024 reforms, distinguish enacted law, commenced provisions, transitional provisions, and prospective/not-yet-in-force provisions. Verify status with legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, regulator guidance, or the available legislation/case-law tools when the host provides them. Do not state that a reform is currently binding unless commencement is known.
• Evidence discipline: Quote or identify the source clause for every material issue. Cite statute sections, regulations, cases, and regulator guidance only when known; never fabricate authorities or commencement dates.
• Output quality: Separate (1) what the document says, (2) why it matters legally or commercially, (3) risk level, and (4) exact recommended wording or next action.

/legal ip — Intellectual Property Review

Jurisdiction

England & Wales only.

Disclaimer

AI-Generated Legal Analysis — This output is produced by AI and does not constitute legal advice. It is for informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified solicitor for advice specific to your circumstances. England & Wales law only.

Purpose

Review IP-related documents — licence agreements, assignment deeds, confidentiality agreements, employment IP clauses, trade mark applications, and IP portfolios — against UK IP legislation and best practice.

Input

Accept exactly one of:

1. File path — Read the file with the Read tool
2. Pasted text — Use directly
3. URL — Fetch with WebFetch

Phase 0: Escalation Check (run before any other phase)

Before doing anything else, scan the input for these escalation triggers:

1. Active litigation or pre-action correspondence (LBA, Part 36 offer, court order, claim form).
2. Regulator action or enquiry (FCA, ICO, HMRC, SRA, CMA, Ofcom, Ofsted, HSE, etc.).
3. Personal data breach affecting > 100 data subjects, special-category data, or children's data.
4. Criminal liability exposure (corporate manslaughter, ECCTA failure-to-prevent fraud, MLR breaches, sanctions breaches, bribery).
5. Imminent limitation period (< 30 days to expiry).
6. Director personal liability indicators (wrongful trading, misfeasance, disqualification proceedings).
7. Whistleblowing disclosure or PIDA-protected report.

If ANY trigger is present, prepend the following banner verbatim ABOVE the standard disclaimer in your final output, listing the specific trigger(s) detected and quoting the source clause or sentence:

⚠️ ESCALATE — INSTRUCT A SOLICITOR NOW

This document contains signals that require urgent qualified advice. AI analysis is not sufficient. Indicators detected: [list specific triggers].

If no trigger is present, do not emit the banner. Do not add a "no triggers detected" note. Continue with the analysis below.

Analysis Framework

Phase 1: Document Classification

• IP licence agreement (exclusive / non-exclusive / sole)
• IP assignment deed
• Trade mark licence / co-existence agreement
• Patent licence
• Software licence (SaaS / on-premise / open source)
• Employment IP clause / invention assignment
• Consultancy IP provisions
• Confidentiality / NDA with IP provisions
• IP due diligence report
• IP portfolio summary
• Other (describe)

Phase 2: Legislative Compliance

Core IP Legislation

• Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) — ownership, moral rights, fair dealing
• Patents Act 1977 — employee inventions (ss.39-43), patent validity
• Trade Marks Act 1994 — registration, infringement, passing off
• Registered Designs Act 1949 / Community Design Regulation
• Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2018

AI-Specific IP Issues

• AI-generated works — copyright ownership uncertainty (CDPA s.9(3))
• Training data rights — Getty Images v Stability AI implications
• AI inventorship — Thaler v Comptroller-General (DABUS) ruling

Commercial IP Provisions

• Ownership of foreground/background IP
• Licence scope (territory, field of use, exclusivity, sublicensing)
• Warranties and indemnities (non-infringement, authority to licence)
• Moral rights waivers (CDPA s.87)
• Open source contamination risk (copyleft provisions)
• IP in employee vs contractor context (CDPA s.11)
• Restrictive covenants and non-compete (restraint of trade doctrine)

Phase 3: Scored Output

Score each area:

• IP ownership clarity: [0-100]
• Licence terms adequacy: [0-100]
• Risk of infringement: [0-100]
• Commercial protection: [0-100]

Output Format

## Intellectual Property Review

### Document Type: [classification]
### IP Assets Covered: [list]

### Overall IP Protection Score: [0-100] — Grade: [A-F]

### Ownership Analysis
[Who owns what, chain of title, gaps]

### Licence Terms Assessment
[Scope, restrictions, sublicensing, termination]

### Risk Assessment
| Risk Area | Score | Level | Key Issues |
|-----------|-------|-------|------------|
| Ownership gaps | X/100 | ... | ... |
| Infringement exposure | X/100 | ... | ... |
| Commercial adequacy | X/100 | ... | ... |
| AI/tech-specific | X/100 | ... | ... |

### Clause-by-Clause Analysis
[Each clause with risk score and recommendation]

### Recommendations
[Prioritised action items with replacement language]

File Naming

Save output as: IP-REVIEW-[name]-[YYYY-MM-DD].md