By Ben Appleton, Senior Associate at Wilson Gunn
The majority of SMEs in the UK don’t take
advantage of the intellectual property (“IP”) rights they create, with most
being unaware that they’ve generated rights in the first place.
‘Intellectual
Property’ covers a wide range of rights, including inventions, technical
knowledge, trade marks, designs and database rights. Some of these IP rights can
be protected by registering the rights, but many are protected automatically,
without the owner having to do or pay anything.
If you don’t protect your IP rights, then you
stand to lose out on revenue, licensing opportunities and to put it bluntly,
weapons to use against your competitors. In addition, there are some very nice tax breaks which the
government has kindly handed out in relation to patent rights and R&D which
all companies undertaking R&D should look into.
Below is a quick guide to the main IP rights
and tips on their use:
Patents
– cover “inventions”, and are registered rights covering technical ideas, which
can last for up to 20 years from filing. A UK company with a granted patent (in
the UK or Europe) allows that company to claim tax relief under the UK Patent
Box scheme, which can result in an effective tax rate of around 11% on profits
generated globally from products
covered by a patent. Not to be sniffed at!
Trade
marks – cover your brand names, logos, strap-lines
and many other “markers” of your company.
In this day and age of e-commerce, having your brands protected by
registered trade marks enables you to quickly remove online counterfeit and
copy-cat products as well as through traditional physical sales routes. Your
registered trade marks can last forever if managed well.
Registered
designs - cover the shape, surface patterns or
artwork on your products and are cheap and easy to obtain. There have been a
number of high-profile cases, such as the Samsung vs Apple tablet shape
disputes, in which registered design protection has been a key battleground.
Registered design protection can last up to 25 years.
Unregistered
rights – include copyright, unregistered design
rights and database rights, and they tend to be automatic, with nothing for you
to do other than recognise that you have them, and of course use them to your
advantage! The great benefit of unregistered rights is their flexibility – for
example with unregistered design rights you can pick only a part of your
product’s shape and claim design rights in that specific part, which stops
competitors from taking the core of your designs and changing some aspects but
not others.
There are many other rights that you can use
to protect your ideas and products, and Wilson Gunn is always happy to offer a
free initial consultation to discuss your business and advise you on your
potential IP rights.
For more information call on 0161 827 9400, email manchester@wilsongunn.com or visit www.wilsongunn.com
Wilson Gunn is a firm of Patent & Trade
Mark attorneys, established in 1864 and based in Manchester.
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