Business Mentors

Intellectual property assessment

Intellectual Property Assessment

Intellectual Property (IP)
Intellectual property (property that arises from creative thought) can take the form of patents, copyright, designs and trade marks. It is important to decide which of these, if any, apply to your idea.

IP rights can be important to investors or licensees as commercialisation progresses, and have value as any other form of property might.

Patents
Patents protect technical and functional aspects of inventions, and give the patent owner the right to stop others from making, selling, using or importing the patented invention in the country covered by the patent. The term of a patent is 20 years, usually from patent application filing date.

There are a number of questions which need to be answered in assessing whether an idea is suitable for patenting, and relate to patent requirements for novelty, existence of an inventive step (non-obviousness), and industrial applicability. These are;

• Has anyone thought of the idea before? (Novelty)
• Would the idea be obvious to a person who is skilled in the technology area relating to the invention? (Inventive step)
• Could the invention be made in an industrial setting? (Industrial applicability).

To decide if an invention is new or novel, a prior art search can be done. This identifies ideas generated by others which might be close to or the same as your idea. It usually takes the form of a search of published patent applications, patents and published literature.

The British Library has some facilities for prior art searching. In Manchester prior art searching is offered (£35 + VAT or free if you are eligible for funding). There is also a Manchester Library Patent Clinic, taking place on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, where a patent agent can give initial free advice on ways to protect your idea.

You can do prior art searching yourself on the internet using the patent database esp@cenet.

Copyright
If copyright applies to your idea, it exists from the moment you create your idea in a permanent form. Copyright applies to and protects material such as written work including music, computer source code, diagrams, art, recordings. Copyright protects against copying without permission, and can last for the life of the creator of the work plus 70 years, depending on the type of work.

Designs
Design Rights are applicable to 3D objects or a design for a 3D object (i.e. design for a car). The shape of the object is automatically protected by Design Right (i.e. no registration needed), but not 2D designs, such as patterns. Design Rights last for between 10 and 15 years.

It is possible to apply for a Registered Design, which protects both the shape and pattern, and lasts for up to 25 years (renewed every 5 years). The design must be new and have individuality to be registered. Both Design Rights and Registered Designs give the right to stop others copying or using your design.

Trademark
Trademarks protect names, signs or symbols, slogans, which people then associate with certain products or companies. Trademarks can exist automatically if a name has become associated with a product over time. Usually however it is best to register a trademark. The mark needs to be distinctive, and not descriptive of the purpose of the product or service, among other criteria. Trademark protection lasts 10 years but can be renewed.

Trademarks must not be the same or similar as an existing one for the same or similar product. To decide whether your proposed trademark already exists, it is possible to do a trademark search yourself via the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) website. Click on 'Trademarks' then 'Before you apply' in the 'Applying for a trade mark' section

Know How or Trade Secrets
Your idea may have a part of it which can be kept secret, and would be difficult or impossible to find out, or copy, by any means. If this is the case, the secret aspect is called know how or a trade secret, and can exist along with IP rights.

More information on intellectual property and know how can be found on the
UK Intellectual Property Office website.