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Intellectual Property – Your Ideas, Your Money, Your Loss

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Intellectual Property – not the most exciting of subjects, but one which any business should take into consideration.

Why?
Because it enables the protection of ideas and through this protection allows the creator to exploit their ideas to the maximum potential. Having this freedom of exploitation allows a business to maximise the profit from its own unique ideas.

So what is intellectual property?
Intellectual property encompasses the rights accrued through copyright, designs, patents and trademarks. Patents protect the technical and functional aspects of products and processes; designs protect the visual appearance of products; trade marks protect the origin of products or services; and copyright provides protection from others copying your idea.

The UK maintains registers for designs, patents and trademarks whereas copyright is an automatic right which vests with the creator of an article. By registering a design, patent or trademark a business is granted a monopoly right which can be used to prevent competitors from profiting from their creations.

So, what happens if I do not register my rights?
In the best case scenario – nothing. Your ideas are not copied by competitors and your profits and reputation remain intact. In the worst case scenario – your inventions, brands, designs etc. are copied by your competitors, you lose the opportunity and ability to profit from them and your reputation with your customers is damaged.

The Patent Office runs a commercial search and advisory service for patents and trade marks. This service utilises the experience and skills of the Office’s patent and trade mark examiners to search, extract and analyse the information contained on the various databases and to provide advice in relation to those findings.

For further information visit the Patent Office website email – enquiries@patent.gov.uk or call 08459 500 505

For the Patent Office's Search and Advisory Service call 01633 811010 or email commercialsearches@patent.gov.uk

Posted September 22, 2006
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