Wiggin’s tech venture, Incopro, combines with Corsearch

LONDON – Incopro, the online brand protection provider co-founded by Wiggin LLP, has agreed to join forces with Corsearch, a company which helps brands globally to manage their intellectual property, from clearance to protection.

Incopro was established in 2012 by Wiggin intellectual property partner Simon Baggs to use technology-based solutions to help brands and IP owners protect their rights and their consumers online. It has grown rapidly from 3 staff working in a small room in Wiggin’s London office to over 200 employees working from offices in the UK, US and China, with Simon Baggs as its CEO.

The company raised $21m in Series A investment in May 2018 and now protects over 750 global brands online.

Wiggin has an international reputation in the field of online rights protection, gained by representing rights owners in many of the major cases that have extended the application of the law to the online environment.  The firm guided the US film studios to the first site blocking order in the UK (the Newzbin litigation) and ran the first trademark-based site blocking claim to the Supreme Court (Cartier).  More recently, the firm won the TuneIn litigation in the Court of Appeal on behalf of the international recording industry.

Given such a strong background in rights protection, the foundation of Incopro was a natural next step – using image recognition technology, data analytics and professional expertise to scale up the process of finding and removing infringements online.

The transaction with Corseach will see Simon Baggs leave Wiggin to focus fully on further developing the technology enabled solutions for IP businesses that Corsearch provides.

As a well-known entrepreneurial firm, Incopro is only one of Wiggin’s offshoot businesses and solutions, which also include: Reviewed & Cleared, a pre-publication and pre-broadcast editorial clearing company; Viewfinder, an executive producing service in the film and TV sector; and IR35 Manager, a tool which specifically helps media and tech businesses with tax compliance.

John Banister, CEO, Wiggin said: “At Wiggin we are phenomenally proud of our entrepreneurial spirit and endeavours; we have several spin-off businesses which go far beyond providing legal expertise, of which Incopro is a great example. We are thrilled that Corsearch recognises the value of Incopro’s technology and offering in protecting brands online. On a personal level, Simon has played an influential role throughout Wiggin’s history and will be missed by us all. We wish him all the very best with this exciting development.”

Simon Baggs, CEO at Incopro and IP Partner at Wiggin LLP said: “A commitment to the fundamental importance of protecting the intellectual property rights of innovative and creative companies is a huge part of what makes Wiggin such a special law firm.  The innovative mindset of the firm has enabled me to pursue and develop Incopro and its technology – to offer so many global brands and IP owners support and protection online.  I am hugely excited for the future of the company and its staff and all that we can achieve together with Corsearch.  I will remain a close friend of Wiggin and I wish the firm extremely well as it continues to grow and support so many fantastic clients.”