Intellectual property made simple: what you need to know

Intellectual property (IP) is a broad term which is used to describe the legal rights arising out of intangible business assets that often differentiate companies from their competitors. These can include your brand, a product or process, a piece of software or even a customer database.

IP rights enable your business to invest in and reap the benefits of what makes it unique – your creativity, innovation, and branding – and prevent others from copying what you have developed.

Unfortunately, few businesses know precisely what their IP is worth, or how to protect it.

Intellectual property insurance is key to supporting your business when defending itself against claims of IP infringement and can help you pursue those who are infringing on your patent, copyright or trademark.

There’s a lot of terminology surrounding IP. Here are a few key definitions that you need to know:

Patent

A UK patent can help if you want to take legal action against someone who uses your invention without your permission. A patent lasts for five years but you can renew it each year up to a maximum of 20 years. A patent must be new, inventive and useful. It provides the right to prevent others from making, using or selling an invention however, the patent holder has to enforce their rights.

Trade mark

A trade mark protects your brand, for example the name of your product or service. Trade marks can be many things that identify your brand, product or service, including a word, symbol, name, design, fragrance or colour, or some combination of these. The purpose of obtaining a trade mark is to identify and distinguish a good, product or service as belonging to a particular seller or provider.

Copyright

Put simply, copyright protects your work and stops others from using it without your permission. Copyright protection exists automatically – you do not have to apply or pay a fee – and as such, there is no register of copyright works in the UK.

Trade Secrets

A trade secret can be many things. It’s essentially a confidential piece of information, i.e. a secret, that provides an organisation with a competitive edge. Trade secrets can be extremely valuable and can include sales methods, supplier lists and secret ingredients, such as the Coca-Cola formula, or far more mundane items such as the contents of a presentation to potential investors.

IP infringement

IP rights are infringed when a product, creation or invention protected by IP laws are exploited, copied or otherwise used without the permission or consent of the person who owns those rights or their representative.[1]

This can range from the use of technology protected by a patent to the sale of counterfeit

medicines or software to copying a film and making it available online as well as selling counterfeit goods such as clothing, makeup, and DVDs.

Find out more about protecting your intellectual property

To learn more about IP and how to protect your business from the associated risks, talk to our team of experts.