Intellectual property: the basics

The type of intellectual property you have determines the appropriate route to protection.

• Copyright is automatically granted (unlike most other forms of intellectual property) to the person or organisation that creates published artistic work. This includes writing, film, music, and computer software.

• Patents protect inventions, including the features and processes that make things work.

• Trade marks are symbols that differentiate between goods and services and can be logos or brand names.

• Design rights of a product’s shape and appearance (rather than functionality) can be given extra protection by registering them.

Digital intellectual property can be protected in other ways too, such as encryption and using digital signatures.

The Intellectual Property Office is the UK government body which oversees intellectual property rights. Their responsibilities include policy, educating the public, supporting enforcement of intellectual property rights, and granting protections such as patents, trade marks and design registrations. They signpost people to the appropriate protection for their creation or invention.

If you have a patent for an invention or a new process or methodology, you could have the right to claim for compensation if someone uses it without permission, perhaps by manufacturing it themselves.

However, you may be able to give someone permission to use your invention and likewise, you may be able to use someone else's patented intellectual property with permission.

Applying for a patent can be complicated, and some products need to be protected by a number of different patents. While it only costs a few hundred pounds to apply for a patent, you may need a patent agent to properly present your application and make sure you are not infringing someone else's intellectual property rights. This may involve significant cost.

For more information from the perspective of an intellectual assets specialist, take a look at our article Patently Prudent.

When you create an original piece of work that is literary, dramatic, musical or artistic, you automatically have copyright protection, preventing others from copying, distributing, performing, adapting or publishing your work.

Copyright covers works such as company documentation, software, songs, original paintings, drawings or photographs. Copyright also protects sound recordings and films.

If an employee creates work like this during their normal course of employment, you will own the copyright, unless there is an agreement stating otherwise. However, if outsourcing work to a freelancer or contractor, your contract will need to confirm who owns the copyright of any work created during that contract.

If you own the copyright, you can decide whether to:

• allow other businesses or people to use the copyrighted work

• allow work to be copied, adapted, published, performed or broadcast

• allow other businesses to use work for a royalty or licence fee

• sell the copyright.

Trade marks can help you protect the assets that set apart your business, products and services from other suppliers, such as your logos and business names. They enable you to take legal action against anyone who uses them without your permission.

Trade marks can increase the value of your business and influence your reputation and recognition in the market place. They need to be renewed every 10 years.

There are rules on what can and cannot be registered as a trade mark. For example you cannot trademark anything misleading, generic, or offensive.

Before settling on a business or product name or logo, or applying to trade mark them, you should search for trade marks to see if anything similar already exists.

New shapes or arrangements of three-dimensional products will automatically be granted design rights. In the UK this gives you protection from copying or misuse by other people or businesses for up to 10 years after they are first sold.

You can also register a design, which can give longer protection for up to 25 years provided it is renewed every five years. This may give stronger protection as it makes it easier to enforce your rights and the process may allow you to extend your design right to other countries.

You must avoid infringing another owner's design right. If you want to use someone else's design, you may be able to come to an arrangement with the rights owner.

You cannot register two-dimensional designs such as textile patterns, wallpaper designs or graphic design, and the concept of copyright applies to these.

To give extra protection of your ideas before approaching another company or individual, for example, for discussions around contracts for supply or distribution, consider putting a non-disclosure agreement in place. Read our guide covering non-disclosure agreements.