Intellectual property

A look at the various forms of intellectual property.

Types of Intellectual Property

Intellectual property might be a brand, an invention, a design, a song or another intellectual creation.

Ways to protect intellectual property

There are various ways to protect intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, design, copyright and other protection.

Patents

A patent protects new inventions and covers how things work, what they do, how they do it, what they are made of and how they are made. If a patent application is granted, it gives the owner the ability to take a legal action under civil law to try to stop others from making, using, importing or selling the invention without permission.
To qualify for a patent the invention must:

Be new
Have an inventive step that is not obvious to someone with knowledge and experience in the subject
Be capable of being made or used in some kind of industry
Not be:
 A scientific or mathematical discovery, theory or method
 A literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work
 A way of performing a mental act, playing a game or doing business
 The presentation of information, or some computer programs
 An animal or plant variety
 A method of medical treatment or diagnosis
 Against public policy or morality

If you have a granted patent, you must pay a renewal fee to renew it every year after the 5th year for up to 20 years protection.
The Patent Office can help in various steps relating to patent applications such as applying for a patent, resolving disputes, patent forms and fees, online patent services, managing your patent, withdrawing patent applications, other people’s patents, looking at information about patents stored in the Patent Office and patent box.
The Patent Office website can be found under Related Links".

Trademarks

A trade mark (or brand) is a sign which can distinguish one supplier’s goods or services from another. It can be for example words, logos or a combination of both.

Trademarks are acceptable if they are distinctive for the goods and services being provided so they can be recognised as signs that differentiate one suppliers goods or services as different from someone else’s.

Trademarks are not registrable if they:

Describe the goods or services or any characteristics of them, for example, marks which show the quality, quantity, purpose, value or geographical origin of the goods or services;
Have become customary in that particular line of trade;
Are not distinctive;
Are three dimensional shapes, if the shape is typical of the goods you are interested in (or part of them), has a function or adds value to the goods;
Are specially protected emblems;
Are offensive;
Are against the law, for example, promoting illegal drugs; or
Are deceptive. There should be nothing in the mark which would lead the public to think that your goods and services have a quality which they do not.

The only way to register a trade mark is to apply to the Intellectual Property Office.

The Intellectual Property Office is unable to register any sign as a trademark if it consists of or contains an emblem that has protection under an international agreement. Protected emblems may for example include flags and other State emblems, official signs and hallmarks.

Registered Design

A registered design is a legal right which protects the overall visual appearance of a product or a part of a product in the country or countries it is registered in. For the purpose of registration, a design is legally defined as being “the appearance of the whole or part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials of the product or ornamentation.”
Protection is given to the way a product looks. Reference to texture and materials does not mean that protection may be granted for the feel of a texture, or what the product is actually made from; only that these features may influence what the overall product looks like. Equally, design registration cannot protect non-stylised wording (i.e. basic text), the way something works, or the idea or concept behind a product.
A Registered Design can be a valuable intellectual property right. It can form the basis of an infringement action against other parties, and will help in stopping others from creating designs which are too similar to the registered design (within the same geographical area the design has been protected in).

A product which can be registered can be a three-dimensional product such as an industrial or handicraft item (other than a computer program), or two-dimensional ornamentation alone (e.g. a pattern intended for display upon a product, or a stylised logo). In all cases, the term “product” can mean things like packaging, get-up, graphic symbols, typographic typefaces, and parts of products intended to be assembled into a more complex product.

For “get up” protection may be granted to the overall presentation of those products which comprise multiple components but which are sold as one single item such as a board game complete with playing pieces but it does not include sets of items which may be bought individually such as cutlery.
A design must meet the following criteria for its registration to be valid:

Be new (no identical, or very similar, design has been published or publicly disclosed in the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA)). A design would not be considered new if it had been published on an internet website viewable in the EEA, before the date it was filed. However application can be made to register a design in the UK up to 12 months after the designer first discloses it.
Have individual character (i.e. the appearance of the design is different from the appearance of other already known designs)

Copyright

Copyright applies to any medium. Work that is copyright protected must not be reproduced in the same or another medium without the copyright owner’s permission. This includes publishing photographs on the internet, making a sound recording of a book, a painting of a photograph etc.
Copyright can protect:

Literary works, including novels, instrument manuals, computer programs, song lyrics, newspaper articles and some types of database.
Dramatic works such as dance or mime.
Musical works
Artistic works such as paintings, engravings, photographs, sculptures, collages, architecture, technical drawings, diagrams, maps and logos.
Layouts or typographical arrangements used to publish a work such as a book.
Recordings of a work such as a film or a song.
Broadcasts of a work.

Copyright does not protect ideas for work, it is only when the work itself is fixed, for example in writing, that copyright will protect it. Copyright automatically protects works, which means that copyright does not have to be applied for. Although copyright can protect the artwork of a logo, the logo can also be registered as a trade mark.

Other Protection

The intellectual Property Office gives details of the other types of protection available to owners of intellectual property. These include the following:

Copy protection devices
Confidentiality agreements
Database right
Plant breeders rights

Grants

Grants can be available from a number of sources. Below are just a sample and cover the following:

Manufacturing Advisory Service
Technology Strategy Board
Design Leadership Programme
Regional Growth Fund
UK Trade and Investment
Growth Accelerator

Manufacturing Advisory Service

Through Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) you could access a grant of between £300 to £3,000 towards your next improvement project. You can even choose your own consultant, with the added assurance of a MAS advisor to guide you both through the process from start to finish.
MAS’s aid to small and medium sized enterprises is State Aid which is granted under the “aid for consulting in favour of SMEs” provisions set out in the General Block Exemption Regulations (GBER)(1 Regulation EC) 800/2008).

The maximum aid to an SME per MAS Level 4 consultancy project is no more than £10,000 per undertaking per project. The maximum which could be granted under the “aid for consultancy in favour of SMEs” provisions in the GBER is 2 million euros per undertaking per project.

The maximum aid which can be provided under MAS is 50% of eligible costs. The eligible costs for MAS State Aid in accordance with the GBER provisions are the consultancy costs provided under a MAS Level 4 project.

Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) works to support manufacturers based in England no matter what size of company. They have a team of specialist manufacturing advisors dedicated to helping businesses improve and grow.
They provide a free review of a business to develop an action plan tailored to that company’s needs and they can provide match funded support to SMEs for specific projects. Subsidised project support from their advisor teams is available to SMEs whereas larger companies will need to pay the current unsubsidised rate.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service website can be found under "related links".

SMEs are defined for the above purposes in the following document:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/sme_definition/sme_user_guide_en.pdf

Technology Strategy Board

They offer support and funding to help business develop new products and services and bring them closer to market.
You can apply for Research and Development funding in specific priority areas, as well as non-themed “always open” competitions such as Smart Browse. The site has details about “open”, forthcoming and previous competitions. They use the word “competitions” because applicants for funding are in competition for those funds with other applicants.

The site gives information about funding rules, project costs and how to submit your application, together with what happens after you have submitted your application and what happens if you are successful.

The guidance on “funding rules” helps applicants by describing the funding rules which apply to the competition and their project.

The guidance on “project costs” contains detailed information on which project costs are eligible for funding and how to complete the finance forms.

Further details can be obtained from the Technology Strategy Board website which can be found under "related Links".

Design Leadership Programme

The Design Leadership Programme is specifically designed to meet the needs of small and medium sized businesses, and is supported by Government.

Full costs of the Design Leadership Programme range from £2,000 to £10,000 depending on the needs and scale of the business. Thanks to the support of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, they can offer a 50% subsidy to qualifying businesses, reducing costs to between £1,000 and £5,000. Your business covers the cost of implementing any design projects initiated as a result of the programme.

This programme has been developed for businesses between pre-seed and early stage which are developing technology with potential applications in sectors including advanced manufacturing, energy storage, robotics and data applications.

The Design Leadership Programme offers the public sector, businesses and universities a bespoke package of support and coaching to help them use design to innovate and grow.

While specific needs vary, they use a clearly defined client journey to identify where design can best encourage growth. Broadly, this means:

Identifying medium and long-term challenges
Identifying the opportunities to address them
Defining practical design projects to meet these challenges
Helping plan and implement the projects

Further details can be obtained from the Design Council website which can be found under "related links".

Regional Growth Fund

Regional Growth Fund programmes are schemes run by national or local organisations which have been awarded Regional Growth Fund cash to offer grants and/or loans to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Government funding is available for eligible SMEs to:

Invest and strengthen their business
Create or protect jobs
Build on creativity

Each Regional Growth Fund programme will have specific criteria for applications and you will need to check this when you apply.

In general terms, SMEs applying for a grant or loan must:

Be based in England
Want to strengthen, consolidate or grow their business
Create or protect jobs
Be investing private capital
Be unable to find funding elsewhere for the application
Be state aid compliant (https://www.gov.uk/state-aid)

To apply for Regional Growth Fund support for your business you will need to contact the programmes in your area to see if you are eligible. Further details about Regional Growth Funds and the programmes available in different areas can be found on the Gov UK Regional Growth Fund website, see related links.

UK Trade and Investment

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) can help your business grow internationally. They provide trade advice and practical support to UK-based companies wishing to grow their business overseas.

UKTI has advisers both within the UK and across more than 100 international markets. Whatever stage of development your business is at, they can give you the support that you need to prosper.

Through a range of services, including participation at selected trade fairs, outward missions and providing bespoke market intelligence, they can help you crack foreign markets and get to grips quickly with overseas business practice.

High Value Opportunities (HVO) programme identifies, prioritises and supports UK businesses of all sizes to access large scale overseas procurement projects that offer contract opportunities to British business. The HVO programme identifies those large scale projects around the World that offer the best opportunities for UK companies.

UKTI supports British businesses by providing access to their global network and expertise to help them win more of these high value opportunities.

UKTI will research and validate these projects and offer UK companies of all sizes a more intensive level of support to access these major opportunities.

UKTI provides a variety of support for Midsized Businesses with a turnover of between £25m to £500m.

Support from an International Trade Adviser (ITA) to work specifically with Mid-Sized Businesses. They will work with you to develop strategies to enter or grow market share in overseas markets. They will help you find contacts or information sources and discuss the best market entry model, including licensing, joint venture, or outward investment etc. Their role is to help your business to grow. ITAs do not charge for their time. Their job is not to act as an export manager but rather as an external adviser and client manager. They can help your business access support and knowledge from UKTI market and sector experts both in the UK and their 160 locations in 111 countries overseas.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) is the UK’s export credit agency and is the trading name of the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD). It provides assistance to companies of all sizes, principally in the form of insurance policies and guarantees on bank loans.

UK Trade and Investment website contains further details and their website can be found under related links.

Growth Accelerator

Growth Accelerator is a partnership between Grant Thornton, Pera, Oxford Innovation and Winning Pitch. This business charges for its services which include access to finance, business development, leadership and management.

Access to finance services include:

How to improve your company’s investment readiness and becoming more attractive to funders
Understanding who to contact about sources of potential finance
Accessing up to £2,000 match funding for your senior managers to undertake leadership and management training.

Other Support in relation to Intellectual Property

There are a number of organisations which can help businesses with IP and provide support in various ways. The two mentioned below are just some of the organisations involved in this subject.

Intellectual Property Office (www.ipo.gov.uk)

The Intellectual Property Office can help you get the right type of protection for your creation or invention such as patents, trademarks, designs, copyright or other protection. For each type of protection they explain what protection is achieved, what it can be applied to and the various procedures required in relation to that protection.

Intellectual Property Health Check

In partnership with the Intellectual Property Office ITAs will carry out an IP Health Check which will help you identify what intellectual property exists and offer advice to protect, use and maximise the value.

Further information on the Intellectual Property Office and Health Check can be found on their website which can be fund under related links.

British Library – Business & IP Centre (www.bl.uk/bipc)

Intellectual Property (IP) can help you protect your ideas and prevent other people or organisations from using them without your permission. It can also assist you in monetising a particular concept and ensures that you receive money when other organisations use it.

There are four different types that are applicable to different types of intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, registered designs and copyright.

Resources available at the British Library Business & IP Centre include:

Library at 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2 DB which is free to use with a Reader Pass.
They offer a range of free workshops in the Centre from “A beginner’s guide to IP” to “Introducing patents searching”.
Online resources which includes a range of pdf guides which are free including –
What is a patent
What is a trademark
What is a copyright
What is a registered design

Furter details can be found at the British Library website which can be found under related links.

Tax

Research and Development-Investment Allowances

Small and medium sized enterprises can claim tax relief of up to 225% of qualifying expenditure on research and development.
Large companies can claim an “above the line” tax credit of 10% of qualifying R&D expenditure.
The Patent Box which introduced a reduced rate of corporation tax of 10% for income derived from patents.

The above reliefs are only available to corporate entities.

ACCA have further information available on their website on the following topics:

Investment allowances
http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/technical-activities/technical-resources-search/2014/january/investment-allowances.html

SEED Enterprise Investment Scheme (HMRC Guidance)
http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/technical-activities/technical-resources-search/2013/june/seis-hmrc-guidance.html

Above the line credits
http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/technical-activities/technical-resources-search/2013/may/above-line-credit.html

Patent Box
http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/technical-activities/technical-resources-search/2013/january/patent-box.html

Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
EIS/SEIS – Advance Assurance Applications
http://www2.accaglobal.com/uk/members/technical/advice_support/tax/corporation_tax/2012ct/aaa

Enterprise Investment Scheme – The Tax Reliefs Condensed
http://www2.accaglobal.com/uk/members/technical/advice_support/tax/income_tax/IT2012/eisreliefs

Research and Development – useful links
http://www2.accaglobal.com/uk/members/technical/advice_support/tax/corporation_tax/2012ct/rdlinks

Research and Development Tax Relief
http://www2.accaglobal.com/uk/members/technical/advice_support/tax/corporation_tax/2012ct/RandD