A Simple Guide To Intellectual Property

A Simple Guide to Intellectual Property

by

Tim Bishop

IP rights are held over valuable but intangible property, examples of this are things such as products, industrial processes, brand names and website design. Intellectual Property rights such as these can be bought and sold much like normal property.

Intellectual property can be extremely valuable to a business but yet is often overlooked and not adequately protected. IP rights fall into four main catagories: 1. Copyright – copyright is an automatic IP right awarded over work such as literature, art or music created by an individual or company. It is denoted by a recognisable symbol . Copyright ensures that the owner controls when the work is published, sold or reproduced and who is allowed to use it. Copyright does not cover ideas, theories or methods, as the work protected has to be a physically permanent creation. 2. Patents – a patent protects an original idea, invention or product. The criteria for awarding a patent are that the object must be new, it must not be a scientific theory or process, it cannot be a form of medical treatment or a species. 3. Trade Marks – trade marks can be allocated to logo’s, brand names which are used by individual and businesses. A trade mark identifies the entity as being owned and therefore it cannot be reproduced without permission from the owners. In order to receive a trade mark, the entity must be original, distinctive and should not already be used by a generic industry. It should not make reference to a particular product, the quality of a product or the geographical area of the business. 4. Registered Designs – a registered design number is given to a design to identify its registration. It is displayed using a recognisable symbol . The design must be new, which means it must not have been published before. The registered design number identifies the design’s main features i.e. its colour and shape. The registration is only effective over a specific geographical area, but does prevent others from not only using the same, but also similar designs. These different forms of intellectual property can be registered and protected by applying online to the ‘Intellectual Property Office’, which is a government owned body. If registered correctly, your intellectual property could be protected for the following periods: – Copyright: 50 years – Patents: 5 to 20 years – Trade marks: 10 years – Registered design number: – 15 years The benefits of having your Intellectual Property protected: Copyright – Protected for a long time – Distinctive symbol acts as a deterrent to infringers – Legal action for owner against infringement – Injunction or compensation can be won – Can be licensed or sold Patents – Legal action against unauthorised replication of an invention – Details of patent are publicly advertised, but are protected until the parent expires – Injunction or compensation can be won – Can be licensed or sold Trade marks – Distinctive symbol acts as a deterrent to counterfeiters – Counterfeiters run the risk of criminal prosecution if caught by Trading Standards – Can be licensed or sold Registered Design – It provides the creators ownership over the appearance of their design – Injunction or compensation can be won – Can be licensed or sold Many businesses don’t appreciate how much their intellectual property is really worth. If you’re looking to protect intellectual property in your business, make sure you talk to specialist IP lawyers — as this area of law is very complex.

Tim Bishop is senior partner at Bonallack & Bishop, a firm of

IP Lawyers

specialising in

intellectual property advice

. He is responsible for all major strategic decisions, seeing himself as a businessman who owns a law firm. Tim has expanded the firm by 1000% in 12 years and has plans for its continued development.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com