Intellectual Property, or IP, is something that many people have very little or no idea what it means, as a creative it is something very important to be aware of to protect your work. IP is the umbrella term given to copyright, trademarks, patents and design rights, categories in which they have similarities in their nature and legal protection. The exclusive rights given to owners of IP means that no one else has claim to their ideas or work and can also benefit them financially. Unlike with the other categories, in most cases copyright does not need to be registered; it is automatically given to the ‘author’ of the work, the author being the person who created the protected work. Copyright literally means ‘the right to control copying’; the ‘author’ can manage the rights to copy, distribute and adapt the work up until it enters the public domain, which in most countries is the lifetime of the ‘author’ plus 70 years. Often the employer owns the copyright of work created by employees, however, this will be stated in a contract between the two. Copyright owners can license, permanently transfer or assign their exclusive rights to others; unauthorized use of works covered by copyright law is called copyright infringement or violation and is illegal.
A few common instances where IP may have an effect on you are as follows:
Something which relates to a lot of us nowadays is using a website in aid of promotion, to protect original work the universal copyright symbol © together with the owners name and date should be contained on the site. However, if you have contracted someone to build your site they will retain the copyright unless otherwise stated. If you are setting up a new business there are certain protocols you should follow, for example, if you talk to anyone, including investors or a partner, about anything to do with a new product ensure that they sign a Non-Disclosure agreement beforehand so that no one else can steal the idea or disclose the information to others. To protect it from others using it, your business name and brand should be registered as a trademark. If you are a designer of sort and believe you have invented something new you can check whether your idea is already in existence. If it happens that your product is unique in its appearance it is advised to apply for design registration to protect such things; if it is the methods and processes that make things work that are new it should be patented. It is a good idea to be familiar with these procedures, as you could end up losing all rights to something that you in fact created.
For more information visit: www.ipo.gov.uk
A few common instances where IP may have an effect on you are as follows:
Something which relates to a lot of us nowadays is using a website in aid of promotion, to protect original work the universal copyright symbol © together with the owners name and date should be contained on the site. However, if you have contracted someone to build your site they will retain the copyright unless otherwise stated. If you are setting up a new business there are certain protocols you should follow, for example, if you talk to anyone, including investors or a partner, about anything to do with a new product ensure that they sign a Non-Disclosure agreement beforehand so that no one else can steal the idea or disclose the information to others. To protect it from others using it, your business name and brand should be registered as a trademark. If you are a designer of sort and believe you have invented something new you can check whether your idea is already in existence. If it happens that your product is unique in its appearance it is advised to apply for design registration to protect such things; if it is the methods and processes that make things work that are new it should be patented. It is a good idea to be familiar with these procedures, as you could end up losing all rights to something that you in fact created.
For more information visit: www.ipo.gov.uk
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