Many businesses think about protecting their brands, products and designs, but your ideas, processes and information are also valuable business assets. Understand how to protect physical and information assets through intellectual property rights, confidentiality or legal agreements.
Ask yourself what gives your business a genuine commercial advantage over competitors. That can include:
Just one of your business’s products or services could contain several assets worth protecting. For example, a product could include a brand name, an invention, a distinctive design and confidential information that you could protect as a trade secret.
You cannot use intellectual property (IP) protections to protect an idea. But you could use IP to protect your expression of that idea by:
You can get IP information and support at your local business and IP centre.
If a business information asset is not suitable for IP protection, you can still protect it by using confidentiality agreements in your business, controlling who can access information and making sure to protect your business accounts and information.
Think about what makes your product different. Choose the type of protection that best protects whatever is unique or special about your product or design. If you are not sure, consider the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorney (CIPA)'s advice on whether to file for a patent or register a design.
If you manufacture, sell or license products overseas, you may need intellectual property protection outside the UK.
Some business assets may be more valuable when kept secret than when formally registered.
A trade secret is valuable information that gives your business a commercial advantage and that you keep secret from others. Trade secrets can include:
Something is only a trade secret if it is valuable, confidential information that gives your business a competitive edge and you take active steps to keep it secret. Your business may have other confidential information you want to protect, but which does not meet the legal definition of a trade secret.
You can protect confidential information, including trade secrets by:
Before sharing valuable information, check if someone needs access to all of the information or if you can share a redacted version. If they need full access, consider setting up a legal agreement to prevent them using what they learn to their own advantage.
