Meriel Pymont

Meriel is a highly experienced IP and commercial lawyer, drafting and negotiating a wide range of commercial contracts and advising on government tenders, brand management, education-related IP rights, risk management, and data protection.

• 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.

Meriel is a highly experienced IP and commercial lawyer with expertise in the exploitation and protection of rights; for a number of years Meriel was a senior in-house lawyer for Disney.

• 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 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.

Meriel advises retail clients on a wide range of IP matters, data protection, and commercial contracts including manufacturing, licensing, distribution, and long-term collaboration.

• 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.

Meriel advises clients in the sports sector on commercial contracts (including sponsorship and event contracts), brand management, protection of IP rights (teams versus players), risk management, and data protection.

• 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.

Meriel advises clients in the gambling, gaming & betting sector on prize draws, advertising contracts, software licensing, and sponsorship deals, as well as compliance and IP protection.

• 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.

Meriel advises telecoms and technology clients on SaaS, software development, e-commerce, data protection, outsourcing, and technology exploitation agreements.

• 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.

Recognised by The Legal 500 for Gaming and Betting 2022

Recognised by The Legal 500 for Commercial Contracts 2018