IP essentials for start ups and SMEs

Aside from stopping competitors launching a rival product or service, many companies are unaware that their IP assets may even be worth more than physical assets. Businesses can generate income from the sale, licensing or commercialisation of products and services which are protected by IP rights. Indeed, the value of some companies, such as ARM, is in licensing their IP to other companies. What can you protect? Most businesses generate and create innovative products which could be protected using IP. This is a list of the variety of types of IP protection that are available: • Patents. Provide legal protection for new inventions – this could be an innovative solution to a technical problem and may be the way in which the product or service operates technically. • Trade Marks. Provide legal protection for your distinctive brand name or logo. This protects your business goodwill and distinguishes your goods and services from those of your competitors. • Designs. Provide legal protection for the 'look and feel' of a product. This could be the visual appearance of products and their components or even a typeface • Copyright. Provides legal protection against copiers of literary, artistic, or musical material, such as brochures, manuals, advert content and radio jingles. How to go about it Managing IP is about managing risk and generating income. You should build IP action points into your business and project plans and be prepared to allocate budget for IP. It is better to be safe than sorry. • Have an IP strategy • Allocate an IP budget • Instruct an IP specialist • Undertake patent, trade mark and design searches throughout project development to ensure you are not infringing someone else's IP rights • Take special care if you are in a joint development so you know who owns what • Check contract terms (such as confidentiality agreements) with third parties (joint development, contractors) • Record development work and track who is an inventor • Look to secure your own IP rights. Consider patents and designs, trade marks and domain names. Government schemes A variety of government schemes is available to provide financial support for innovative businesses. • The UK Patent Box. This allows a company to apply a corporation tax rate of 10% on profits made in the UK that can be attributed to qualifying patents • Research and development (R&D) relief. This is a corporation tax relief that may be claimed for qualifying R&D costs. Two tiers of relief are available: SMEs receive 225% tax relief of allowable R&D costs; large companies are eligible for 130% relief • The Smart scheme. The scheme offers funding to SMEs to engage in R&D projects at key stages of development. Offering a fast (30 day) decision turnaround, it is a competitive scheme which is always open to applications • The Small Business Research Initiative programme. This seeks to bring innovative solutions to specific public sector needs by engaging a broad range of companies in competitions for ideas that result in development contracts • Innovation vouchers. These enable businesses to access specialist knowledge for all types of innovation. With a value of up to £5000, the vouchers are available to start up, micro or SMEs located in the UK for whom it is the first time working with the selected knowledge supplier • Collaborative R&D. These competitions, organised within specific technology themes, aim to support collaboration between businesses, and between businesses and academia. Grants of £25,000 to £1million are available • Horizon 2020. This European Union research and innovation programme offers nearly €80billion of funding over the next seven years. Various funding opportunities are available, including the SME instrument, which seeks to support SMEs with international ambitions. The instrument provides full cycle business innovation support, from the stage of business idea conception and planning via business plan execution and demonstration to commercialisation. Conclusion The range of schemes and the types of IP protection available mean that no start up or SME should be without it. Further detailed information is available in the Knowledge Bank or by contacting a Partner at D Young & Co LLP. Both can be found at www.dyoung.com. Alternatively, email Jonathan Jackson at jaj@dyoung.com