Meriel is a highly experienced commercial lawyer with expertise in the exploitation and protection of intellectual property rights. Meriel also brings strategic commercial and IP advice to corporate transactions, joint ventures, long-term collaborations and licensing arrangements.
Her clients range from SMEs to large international ventures in all industries including the fashion/retail, gaming, media and sports sectors.
Expertise
- International licensing and assignment of rights
- Due diligence on the IP and commercial aspects of corporate transactions
- Manufacturing, distribution, agency and outsourcing agreements
- All aspects of e-commerce
- Sponsorship and event agreements
- Contracts work in the gambling sector (prize draw terms, advertising contracts)
- Software licensing, development and maintenance agreements
- Introduction and commission-sharing agreements
- Tenders for public services and government contracts
- Hospitality contracts including catering and ticketing contracts
- International non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements
- Data protection
- Research and development agreements
- Co-existence agreements
Experience
Media
- Advised award-winning digital educational film publishers for many years on the licensing of rights, protection of IP and data protection, and commercial engagement with government entities, joint ventures, data sharing agreements and private companies.
- Advised Disney on its IP and branding across its TV business (channel agreements, licensing and distribution agreements).
- Advised a digital arts platform which then led to acting as their main lawyer providing pragmatic advice on their commercial projects, drafting and successfully negotiating all aspects of exploitation of the platform’s rights overseas, a joint venture and establishing a working set of precedents for the filming of theatrical productions.
- Advised a publishing company acquiring various other companies, focussing on the ownership of IP rights to key series of books, their main assets, and ensuring they had the correct rights clearances.
- Advised on contracts for both the filming and exploitation of a major West End musical which was then broadcast on mainstream television around the world.
- Advised on a film investment agreement to finance and develop various creative ideas with contingencies for non-development.
- Advised the rightsholders of a famous dead author’s oeuvre, leading to several West End theatrical productions and options for several films.
Gaming & Entertainment
- Advised a large gaming company in its purchase of two other large gaming companies and considering risk within the context of the relevant regulator’s rules.
- Oversaw the legal structure and drafting contracts for a new AVOD streaming service including an advertising revenue sharing contract, management services contract with its international parent company, trade mark licence and programming licences.
- Drafted terms for new online gaming apps with interactive fan zones and differing prize awards, including one app offering non-fungible token (NFT) prizes.
- Drafted and advised a gaming company on the acquisition of rights to a famous person’s catchphrase for production of a series of adverts on TV and radio.
- Drafted terms for variety of online prize draw competitions.
Fashion & Retail
- Acted as sole legal representative for a beauty brand, drafting and advising on all commercial contracts and managing referrals of matters to other lawyers (with corporate, litigation and employment expertise) when required.
- Advised varied designer fashion labels (in the Gucci group and others) on all necessary commercial agreements for, inter alia, a men’s clothing range, a children’s clothing range, a leather goods range and a designer branded range for a high-street chain, ensuring that the brand identities were protected at every step of the process and that certain ethical manufacturing undertakings were met.
- Advised several brand management companies on their commercial arrangements with clients including negotiating long-term contracts with leading supermarket brands and a leading airline.
- Advised a well-known US celebrity on brand collaboration partnership with a high-street fashion clothing chain.
- Advised a supermodel on contracts relating to the potential sale of her trade mark including a co-existence agreement for sharing the trade mark, goodwill and image on an ongoing basis.
- Advised the creator of an award-winning hairbrush on contracts with major retailers and protection of rights.
Education
- Advised and drafted collaboration between a client and a leading university for the creation of educational films, their exploitation and the shared ownership of IP rights.
- Drafted consent forms for teachers, parents and (older) children when participating in filming in schools.
- Advised a school on the digitisation and proposed publication of their school archives.
- Advised a primary education content provider on their contracts with schools, educational groups and rights creators.
- Due diligence in preparation for sale of a chain of nurseries,
- Advised a university on intellectual property rights ownership and sharing in relation to rights created by students and employees when created on joint projects.
Sports
- Drafted sponsorship contracts for the (then) Volvo Ocean Race.
- Drafted all necessary terms for a sponsored charity Santa race.
- Sponsorship agreements for a clothing chain’s multi-year sponsorship of a series for the RFU.
- Advised on, and drafting the documents for, a bicycle company successfully turning its collective of cyclists into a tech-enabled mobile brand platform.
- Advised a bike rental and touring company on various commercial contracts and joint ventures.
Technology
- Advised an online gaming company on ecommerce terms, privacy policy and Non-Fungible Tokens as prizes.
- Drafted and negotiated several SaaS agreements for a cyber security client, including an international joint venture with a Telecoms company to service its clients.
- Advised, drafted and negotiated set of contracts for bicycle loan company using a tech enabled platform.
- Oversaw the legal structure and drafted contracts for a new AVOD streaming service.
- Advised a digital publisher on a venture with a third party to share access to an online video-editing platform.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised by The Legal 500 2022 for Gaming and Betting
“Meriel Pymont has expertise in data protection and privacy. She provides guidance to us that gives us a commercial outcome which we are very happy with.” The Legal 500 2022
Recognised in Legal 500 2018 for Commercial Contracts
Career
Meriel qualified as a solicitor in 1994. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2005, Meriel worked at the following firms:
- Linklaters
- Disney
- Farrer & Co.