The document outlines the various aspects of intellectual property (IP) relevant to makers, covering protections for branding, design, technology, and the arts. It details options available for patenting inventions, the cost involved, alternatives such as trade secrets and design rights, and the importance of trademarks. Additionally, it highlights the benefits of IP ownership for makers, including market exclusivity and revenue generation through licensing.

1. Intellectual Property for Makers
Jane Lambert
15 April 2020, 17:30

2. What is intellectual property?
Laws that protect investment in branding, design, technology
art and literature.

3. How the law protects branding
A brand is a sign by which a business, product or service is
recognized in the market.
There is a judge-made rule known as “passing off”. Nobody
may represent his or her business, goods or services as those
of another by adopting the same or similar trade name, trade
mark logo, get up, trading style or otherwise
It is also possible to register a brand
as a trade mark. Registration confers the
exclusive right to use the sign in relation
to specified goods or services.

4. How the law protects design
There are two kinds of design in everyday language:
• Something technical like an “aircraft engine design”; or
• Something pleasing to the eye like “designer handbag”
or “designer furniture.”
Shape or configuration of articles is protected automatically
by unregistered design right.
Product designs that are “new”
and have “individual character may be
registered as “registered designs.”

5. How the law protects technology
Businesses or inventors have a choice:
• Try to keep a new product or process under wraps and
disclose sensitive information only in confidence; or
• Tell the world how to make the product or use the process
in return for a monopoly of up to 20 years known as a
“patent”.
Some new products such as computer programs cannot be
patented and have to be protected in other ways.

6. How the law protects the arts
Two types of artistic expression:
• Works in permanent form such as books, buildings, films,
musical scores, paintings, plays and sound recordings; and
• Performances by actors, dancers, musicians and singers.
Works in permanent form are protected by copyright and
performances by rights in performances (that is to say a right
to object to filming, taping or broadcasting).
Note – some functional works like
catalogues , websites or compute programs
are classed as “literary works”.

7. What kind of IP interests makers?
What sort of things do makers make?
• Products some of which may be patentable inventions
• Machines and components for products
• Artefacts and handicrafts, and possibly
• Programs for 3D printers and other digital equipment.
Some may want to market their products in which case they
will need to know about trade marks.

8. Inventions
A maker has a choice:
• He or she can apply for a patent for his or her invention
which will cost a lot of money to obtain and even more to
enforce but which will confer a monopoly of the
manufacture, importation, marketing, distribution or use of
the product for up to 20 years; or he or she may prefer to
• Keep the product and the way it is made under wraps for as
long as possible and rely on trade secrecy and unregistered
design law.

9. Patents for Inventions
• Available for products that are new, not obvious, useful and
fall outside a number of statutory exceptions.
• Expensive to obtain: £5,000 for the UK alone, perhaps
€30,000 for largest European economies and $100,000 for
the world.
• Enforcement proceedings can cost many thousands of
pounds in UK and even more abroad.
• Provide most effective and comprehensive protection for a
new invention.

10. Patents for inventions
• Applications for a UK patent are made to the UK Intellectual
Property Office in Newport.
• Applications for patents for the UK and many other
countries can be made to the European Patent Office in
Munich.
• No such thing as an EU patent though there is an
agreement for a unitary patent that would cover most but
no all EU states.
• Patent Cooperation Treaty for the world.

11. Patenting Tips
• Make a thorough search of the prior art (see Jane Lambert
IP Database Searches and Understanding Specifications 30
Nov 2020 NIPC Wales www.nipcwales.co.uk).
• Consult a patent attorney either through a CIPA patent
clinic or the CIPA website. The nearest clinic is at Liverpool
Business and IP Centre in the Central Library but we are
building an IP support network for the Menai Science Park.
• Consider IP insurance (Jane Lambert IPO Guidance: IP
Insurance 26 Feb 2020 NIPC Inventors Club)

12. Alternatives to patents
• If a product cannot easily be reverse engineered it can be
kept under wraps for centuries (e.g. the recipes for
Chartreuse and Coca Cola).
• Law of confidence and the Trade Secrets Directive will
prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of the recipe or
other secret.
• Unregistered design right will protect copying of shape or
configuration of an article for 10 years.
• Literary copyright will protect software.

13. New Designs
• Unregistered design right protects artefacts and handicrafts
from copying.
• New product designs with individual character can be
registered with the IPO as “registered designs” for 5
renewable periods of 5 years each.
• Design registration confers a monopoly of the design.
• Design registration is cheaper and easier than patenting as
there is no substantial examination but a registration can
be challenged in cancellation proceedings.

14. Artistic craftsmanship
• Some artefacts and handicrafts are artistic works as well as
works of craftsmanship.
• Such works can be protected against copying by copyright
for the life of the author plus 70 years.
• Surface decoration can also be protected by copyright.

15. Trade marks
• A word, abbreviation, logo or other sign that can distinguish
the goods or services of one business from those of all
others can be registered as a trade mark.
• An online application for goods or services in a single class
for the UK can cost as little as £170.
• Also possible to apply for an EU trade mark or an
international application through the WIPO (UN specialist
agency for IP).

16. Enforcement
• Actions for patent and registered design infringement must
be brought in the Patents Court or Intellectual Property
Enterprise Court (“IPEC”).
• All other actions can be brought in the High Court
(including IPEC) or County Court.
• Claims for infringement of all IP rights except patents,
registered designs and other specialist litigation under
£10,000 can be brought in IPEC small claims track.
• IPO’s opinion service.
• IP insurance.

17. Benefits of IP for makers
• The IP owner can restrict entry to his market for a sufficient
time to recoup his or her investment and maybe a little bit
more.
• An IP right is a marketable asset or collateral against which
the owner can borrow.
• Licensing can generate revenue for the IP owner.

18. Further Information nationally
• The IP Office website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual
-property-office
• British Library Business and IP Centre:
https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre
• NIPC Law: http://www.nipclaw.com
• WIPO: http://www.wipo.int

19. Local Service Providers
• Jane Lambert Specialist counsel
• Sean Thomas Thomas Harrison IP Patent attorney
• Jonty Gordon Amgen Law Specialist solicitor
• Andrea Knox Knox Commercial Solicitors
• Steve Livingston IP Tax Solutions Specialist accountant
• Huw Watkins BIC Innovation consultant

20. Jane Lambert
4-5 Gray’s Inn Square
London, WC1R 5AH
+44(0)20 7404 5252
Jane.Lambert@nipclaw.com
www.nipcwa