This document provides an overview of intellectual property including trademarks, patents, registered designs, and copyright. It defines these concepts and outlines the registration processes and fees associated with obtaining protection in the UK and overseas. Key points covered include what can be trademarked or patented, ownership of intellectual property rights, infringement issues to consider, and collaboration best practices.

1. Intellectual Property
Overview
Business Outreach & Education @The_IPO

2. Help and Advice on IP
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https://www.gov.uk/government/publication
s/intellectual-property-for-business/ip-for-
business-tools

3. What is intellectual property?

5. A Registered Trade Mark is...
Any sign which is capable
of being represented graphically
Any sign which is capable of
distinguishing the goods or services
of one undertaking from another
“A Badge of Origin”

6. What can be registered?
Colour theme Shape theme
Domain name Slogan
Name Logo
Non-traditional Music
Numbers

7. True or False
You cannot register a dictionary word
Changing the spelling makes it different
You do not have to use a registered trade mark
I have registered at Companies House so I own the
trade mark

8. Domain names
Trade Mark registration is not company
name or domain name registration
A domain name may be
registered as a Trade Mark
Incorporating another’s RTM into your domain
name or meta-tag may be an infringement

9. The Don’ts
• Geographical names
• Avoid laudatory terminology
• Restrictive names
• Deceptive names
• Offensive names

10. Why infringement searches?
Avoid expensive mistakes
Awareness of competing marks
Early resolution of potential problems

11. UK Applications
Fees:
Application fees: £170 – Includes one Class
Additional Classes £50 each (up to 45 Classes)
Timeline:
Examination within 2 months of filing
Registration (unopposed) in 5 months

12. Trade Mark Registration Overseas
Paris Convention - six months priority
OHIM – Community Trade Mark
e-filing fee €900
Madrid Protocol

14. Registered Designs
Protects shape or configuration (3-D)
and/or pattern or ornamentation (2-D)
No protection for function, materials
or technology of manufacture
No protection when form is dictated
by function (ie: no design freedom)

15. Multiple Applications
£60 for first design
(£40 application + £20 publication)
£40 for subsequent designs
(£20 application + £20 publication
Renewal fees every 5 years
Maximum term 25 years

16. Registration Overseas
Paris Convention – 6 Months
OHIM - Community
Design
Hague Agreement
(1/1/2008)

18. Criteria for ‘patentability’
Patents are for “technological innovation”, though the
Patents Act 1977 fails to define the word “invention”
Inventions must be new - not known
anywhere in the world prior to the filing date
Inventions must have an ‘inventive step’ - not
obvious, a simple adaptation or combination
Inventions must be industrially applicable
and have a ‘technical effect’

19. What is a Patent ?
State Inventor
A Bargain
Fees
Technical Description
Exclusive Rights
20 years

20. 1 A vehicle transmission assembly including a change speed transmission having a
casing, an input for connection to an engine or motor, a first epicyclic gear train
which is connected to the input and in use selectively provides a reduction ratio or a
direct ratio to a second epicyclic gear train which in use selectively provides a
reduction ratio or a direct ratio to a third epicyclic gear train which in use selectively
provides a reduction ratio or a direct ratio to a forward transmission output, each
epicyclic gear train comprising a sun gear, an annulus gear and a set of planet
gears mounted on a respective carrier and intermeshing with the respective sun
and annulus gears, and first, second and third coupling means associated with the
first second and third epicyclic gear trains respectively to selectively couple one of
the sun gear and the annulus gear of the respective gear train to the casing or to
the carrier, each coupling means comprising a synchromesh selector slidable on a
member fast with the said one of the sun gear or annulus gear and engageable with
the casing when slid in one axial direction and with the carrier when slid in the other
axial direction.
Example - Claim 1

21. Patent fees
Application fee – £30 or £20 (Electronic filing)
Search Fee - £150 or £130 (Electronic filing)
Examination fee - £100 or £80
(Electronic filing)
Renewals
5th
Year - £70
10th
Year - £170
20th
Year - £600

22. Obtaining Patent Protection Abroad
Separate national filings
Patent Co-operation Treaty
(PCT)
European Patent Convention
(EPC)

23. Working with others
Prior use or disclosure will invalidate a patent
application - use ‘Confidentiality Agreements’
Agree in writing who will own any I.P. arising
from the collaboration before commercialisation

25. What Copyright protects
Books, technical reports, manuals, databases
Engineering, technical or architectural plans
Paintings, sculptures, photographs
Music, songs, plays, dramatic works
Promotional literature, advertising
Films, videos, cable or radio broadcasts
Computer software

26. How long does Copyright last?
Literary, musical, artistic & dramatic works:
author’s lifetime plus 70 years
Sound recordings: 70 years
TV & radio broadcasts &
cable programmes: 50 years from first broadcast
Publishers’ right (typographical layout etc.):
25 years
Films: 70 years after the death of the last of:
director, composer of the score, the author of
the screenplay and the scriptwriter

27. Who owns Copyright?
Usually the first creator or author...
…or their employer if produced in the
ordinary course of their employment
However, a contractor will retain ownership
unless their contract is explicit to the contrary
Even if the creator sells their rights, they have
‘moral rights’ over how their work is used

28. Registered Design
Copyright: labels & artwork
® Registered Trade Mark
‘TM’ unregistered
Patents: several dozen!
Bringing it all together

29. Thank You
market@ipo.gov.uk
GOV.UK/IPO
@The_IPO