Intellectual Property

You should take steps to protect your intellectual property (IP). Examples of IP might be your company name or brand, artwork, music, designs, images, processes or knowledge.

There are three main areas to consider:

• Patents - you can register a novel design, device or process and get Patent protection. This means others cannot use this device without your permission. If the device becomes public then you will not be able to get a patent. You may wish to get a patent in countries that are significant markets eg UK, EU, USA and Japan. You can find more information at http://www.patent.gov.uk/patent/index.htm
• Trademarks - you can register a term or an image as a trademark. This will help you develop and protect a brand that is valuable to your business. This does not need to be done, but it helps define who owns the "brand" in event of potential conflict. For more information seehttp://www.patent.gov.uk/tm/index.htm
• Copyright - any original work (eg art, music, writing) belongs to the designer by right, unless he chooses to surrender it to others. To protect it you can use the © symbol to warn others who might wish to copy it, and it helps if you can date (and prove it) the work in event of any subesequent discussions over ownership. For more information visit http://www.patent.gov.uk/copy/index.htm.

For further reading about the whole IP area, visit http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk.