Legal Update - Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) can be one of the most valuable assets of a business but it is often misunderstood and can easily be overlooked. It may be as simple as the goodwill attaching to the name of a product/business, or as complicated as technical invention rights or design drawings - both may be essential to the success of your business.

Intellectual property runs through a business at every level and has a part to play in business relations with staff, suppliers and customers. It is important to both recognise and then protect IP used in any business. In particular:

1. Ensure you are not infringing third party rights. Do not assume that your new fancy logo will not get you into trouble because you paid a lot for it, make sure that a search for similar logos has been carried out.

2. Make informed decisions about protecting your IP. Be aware of what rights can and should be registered, and how to assert your rights.

3. Enforce your IP rights against any third parties who may be infringing them.

Many businesses do not know just how valuable their IP is until they either need to stop somebody else from using or infringing their IP, or are under challenge from a third party who claims that its IP is being infringed.

Intellectual property rights include:-

Trade Marks – A trade mark is the sign or logo which distinguishes the goods and services that you provide from those of other businesses. If you protect your trade mark by registration (there are unregistered rights as well) you can take action against anyone who uses your mark (or a mark which is similar to yours) in relation to the goods and services for which you have protected your mark. The mark is usually in word or art form but it can be a sound or a shape or even a smell!

Copyright image Copyright – Copyright arises automatically and is the right which protects the expression of an idea and not the idea itself. Copyright can protect artistic, musical, dramatic and literary works and will include things such as websites (including code), computer programmes, databases and photographs.

Patents – Patents are registered rights which protect new inventions (either processes or products). If you protect your invention as a patent you will make it unlawful for many years for any other individual or business to use your invention without your consent.

Designs – There are a number of different protection mechanisms (some arising automatically and others requiring registration) for protecting designs. Design rights are not concerned with how an item works, only its physical appearance.