Safeguard your intellectual property
Protect the innovation and assets critical to your commercial success.
Intellectual property (IP) is something that you create using your mind - for example, a story, an invention, an artistic work, or a symbol. A company's IP is often its most important and valued intangible asset.
Having the right type of intellectual property protection helps you to stop people stealing or copying:
- the names of your products or brands
- your inventions
- the design or look of your products
- things you write, make or produce
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Protecting your intellectual property
Intellectual property is a valuable asset that could be vital to the growth of your business, securing investment, and the commercial success of your products or services. As a result, you should consider having an IP strategy on how to protect, manage and use your intellectual property.
Copyright, patents, designs and trade marks are all types of intellectual property protectionopens www.gov.uk in a new tab. You get some types of protection automatically, others you have to apply for.
| Type of protection | Intellectual property it covers | Time to allow for application |
|---|---|---|
| Registering a trade mark | Product names and logos | 4 months |
| Registering a design | Appearance of a product or its packaging, including its shape, patterns, ornamentation | 3 weeks |
| Copyright | Written works, art, photography, film, music, broadcasts, web content, software | Not required, automatic |
| Patenting an invention | Inventions and products, for example machines, medicines | Around 5 years |
Hear from Binit CEO and CoFounder, Philippa Roberts, about how she protects the intellectual property of her business:
Tom de Pelet, CEO of Hornit explains how his intellectual property has allowed him to strengthen his business:
Valuing your intellectual property
Like other forms of property, you can buy, sell, and license IP. It is important you understand the value of your copyright, trade mark, patent or design. Knowing what your IP is worth is important for understanding the value of your business as a whole and defining your growth strategy.
Valuing IP is not a straightforward task and there are different methods available for valuing IP rights. This guidance sets out 3 methods of valuing IPopens www.gov.uk in a new tab and provides supporting checklists to help you approach the task.
Help to protect your intellectual property
- use the IP Equip serviceopens www.ipo.gov.uk in a new tab to find out which type of intellectual property you have
- speak to a professional, for example a patent attorneyopens www.cipa.org.uk in a new tab or trade mark attorneyopens www.citma.org.uk in a new tab - basic advice may be free
- go to a local IP clinicopens www.gov.uk in a new tab or the British Library Business and IP Centreopens www.bl.uk in a new tab in London
- access our learning on how to protect your intellectual property when exporting
Learn more about intellectual property and how to protect it
Make use of the Intellectual Property Office's free-to-use suite of online support tools designed for business.
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