RSS

Companies should exploit intellectual property, says IPO

Aug 22 2008

All businesses, in any industry, will be creating intellectual property they need to protect, entrepreneurs are warned.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) says that most firms are unaware of the information they are creating or that they may be breaching other people's rights.

Lawrence Smith-Higgins, head of business, outreach and education at the IPO, claims he can go to any company and identify where they are creating their own property or using someone else's.

He comments that if the intellectual property belongs to the owner of the business they should make sure they know how to 'protect it and … properly manage it and maximise its value to them and their company.'

A particularly important thing to protect is the name of the firm so that other companies do not copy it and it is easier to build a brand, he remarks.

The government is currently running a review into intellectual property rights and the British Brands Group is calling on businesses to submit examples of where their packaging has been copied.

 
Comments

There are currently no comments on this article

Prize Draw

 

Free prize draw!

Smallbusiness.co.uk has teamed up with Avery® Quick&Clean™ Business Cards to offer five lucky readers the chance to win a copy of BBC Dragons' Den James Caan's new book The Real Deal and a pack of Avery® premium heavyweight business cards. To enter the prize draw, simply answer our question here

What would you do with £10k?







Site map

« Expand to view