IP Protection

Protecting your IP involves preparation and filing of applications for patents, trademarks and registered designs.

Here we will learn more about the type of protection available. IP Rights (IPRs) provide legal protection for your “IP assets” and aim to try and protect the value of those assets.

IPRs include 2 main categories: 

1. Registered rights: These include things like patents, trademarks and registered designs. Registered rights are fundamental monopoly rights, with no requirement to prove intentional copying. To obtain these rights there are application processes and legal tests to go through. Therefore, there are associated timing and cost issues to consider. In certain jurisdictions, such as the UK and Europe, you must file your patent application before there is any public disclosure of your product. To keep track of invention capture for potential registered rights, you need to put the right business processes in place. This could be as simple as including IP as an agenda item in your monthly project meeting. 

   Problems you can encounter with registered rights: 

   • Being too late (someone else has filed before you)

   • Having the wrong focus (want to have the right reason for filing for a patent)

   • Insufficient Return on Investment

   • IP leaks (critical to keep IP under wraps until you have filed for patent or until you decide not to file).

2. Unregistered rights: These come into existence automatically. Unregistered rights include unregistered designs, trade secrets, copyright, agreements, database rights and passing off. While there are no legal processes associated with them, it makes keeping contemporaneous records even more important as you need to have the records to demonstrate that something belongs to you and be able to prove that someone copied you. 

Here are some examples of unregistered rights: 

• Trade secret: this is secret information and has value to your business because it is secret. You must demonstrate that you are looking after that secret in the appropriate way, for example, in employment contracts and having separate secured folders. 

• Database rights: these are specific rights that protect collections of data that prevent people taking that data in an unauthorised fashion.

• Passing-off: this includes someone using your design or aspects of your design to get commercial advantage. 

• Unregistered designs: this could include designs of a physical product.