Protect your IP

Intellectual property (IP) protects ideas and business assets. Since 2007, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has been the operating name of the government department responsible for IP within the United Kingdom. 

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides an explanation of IP.

Intellectual Property can help protect more than just ideas or a concept. It can help protect the long-term viability and genuine business assets. It can help protect you and your business from other businesses using your ideas and designs. 

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides an explanation of IP:

Trademarking your brand helps to protect your brand and prevents other people and businesses from using your branding and marketing materials for their own gain. Many companies are instantly recognised by their branding such as taglines and logos. 

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information:

To be granted a patent, your invention must be all the following:

• Something that can be made or used
• New
• Inventive - not just a simple modification to something that already exists

Having your design registered will help protect any aspect of your design and can help give you the right to prevent other people and businesses from using it for up to 25 years. If you have your design registered, you will need to renew it every 5 years. 

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information:

Depending on your type of business, having your creative work such as literacy, art or images copyrighted allows you stop people from copying your work. If there is a high demand for people using your work, you can sell licence rights to your work and use it as a source of income. 

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information:

You have some basic rights automatically for your intellectual property, however if you want to be fully protected you will need to apply to register for a patent.  

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information:

Licence is an agreement between you as the right owner of the property and another person or business. It allows you to grant permission for them to use and work using your IP for a fee. A franchise works in a similar way and allows companies to use patents and trademarks - this is commonly used with companies such as McDonalds. 

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information:

If you protect your UK IP that will stop others from using your property within the UK, however, other abroad may be able to use your property without infringing on your rights. You may want to apply for IP protection in other countries as IP rights are territorial.

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information:

You can use the Intellectual Property Office website to search patents, so if you have something you have been working on you can search similar items to see if someone already have the rights. When looking to use branding, images and music keep an eye out for copyright and trademark logos. You may be able to seek permission to use them from the owners. 

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information:

If someone is using your Intellectual Property it is your responsibility to defend it and act. The three common steps are:

1. Get in contact with the person or business and ask them to stop using your IP, or try coming to an IP licencing agreement with them.
2. Use some form of mediation to try and resolve the dispute.
3. If 1 or 2 do not work, you can take legal action.

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information:

Once you have registered your intellectual property it protected by several Acts of Parliament such as the Digital Economy Act 2017 and the Trademarks Act 1994. If you become a victim of IP crime you should report it to the police. 

This video from the Intellectual Property Office provides more information: