Intellectual

Property

© 2009- 2011 Mancunium IP. All rights reserved.

Intellectual Property (IP) is a portmanteau term to used describe exclusive rights
granted to creators and owners of works that are a result of human intellectual
creativity. IP rights can take various forms such as an invention, information in a
manuscript, shape of a packaging, software, or a business brand. For some types of
intellectual property rights, the grant of the exclusive right is in return for the creator's
'enabling disclosure' so that the 'know-how' to make or perform the work is publicly
available to the general public. To do this, a balance is generally required so as to
give reasonable certainty to the general public (for example, to make provisions for
acts such as use in private study, research or parody) while awarding the IP creator
with a reasonable amount of protection. Most IP rights are thus granted for a limited
period of time, and after expiry, the material reverts into the public domain, free for
all to make, copy or use.
Some IP rights require registration, for example in the case of an invention, an
application for a patent must be filed. Other rights gain protection automatically once
the work is created or "fixed" as is the case for copyright, where no registration is
required.

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Patents
• Protect Inventions. Granted as an exclusive right to an inventor in exchange of full
disclosure.
• Range of subject matter that can be protected is broad and includes software
implemented inventions, manufacturing methods and inventive and non-obvious
improvements of known items.
• To get a Patent an application must be submitted at the relevant Patent / Intellectual
Property Office. The application should include a request for a Patent, including a
clear, sufficient and unambiguous description as to what the invention is, how it is
made, etc and the problem it solves.
• Criteria: The invention must possess Novelty; Inventive step and Industrial
Applicability. And:- must not be excluded subject matter(computer programs,
business methods, methods of diagnostics on the human / animal body, etc). There
are some exceptions to these exclusions.
• It can take anywhere between 2- 3.5 years for the Application to grant.
• Protection is Jurisdictional, so generally a UK granted Patent cannot be enforced in
the US, unless there is a valid US equivalent.
• Term: In the UK, 20 years from priority, after which the material reverts to the public
domain, free for anyone to use, even for commercial purposes.

Trade Marks

• Trade marks Protect brands, company names, logo's, etc.

• Indefinite protection (In the UK, Trade marks will remain in force
so long as they are renewed once every 10 years)
• It must be a sign capable of being represented graphically, and which
can act as a badge of origin.
• There are some exclusions (the sign must not have become generic, not descriptive,
deceptive or be indicative of the intended purpose of the goods or services[not an
exhaustive list])
 Copyright

Copyright protects literal, musical and artistic works (not an exhaustive list).
It gives the owner a number of rights including the right to stop or prevent
reproduction of their work into another medium without the owners consent. It also
gives the owner other rights known as 'moral rights', among them the right to be
recognised as the author or creator of a work.

There are several categories of things that can be protected by copyright:

• literary works such as books, computer code, newspaper articles, song lyrics
and some types of databases.
• dramatic works, including works of dance or mime
• musical works
• artistic works, including diagrams, paintings, photographs,logos, maps,
sculptures, engravings, architecture, technical drawings.
• typographical arrangements, film or sound recordings and broadcasts

The work must be “fixed”, not arbitrary, so for example, while you may have
some difficulty protecting the abstract idea of a certain military board game,
the actual embodiment of the game may benefit from copyright protection.

Copyright protection is automatic upon fixation and there is no requirement

in the UK for registration, although many bodies offer inventory services
designed to help copyright owners establish the date of possession of a work.
 Registered Designs

• A registered design is a legal right which protects the overall visual appearance of a
product. The products is required to have an unique appearance by virtue of one of its
features.
• It is possible to register the appearance of whole or part of a product resulting from
features of:
(I) lines , (ii) contours (iii) colours (iv) shape (v) texture (vi) materials (vii)
ornamentation
A product can include the packaging, get up, graphic symbols, typographic
type faces and visible parts. It is also possible to register a design showing the
ornamentation alone, for example a diamond ring.

Generally, for a design to be registrable, it must be 'new' and have 'individual

character' meaning the overall impression the design has on an informed user differs
from the overall impression created by designs previously published.

Contacts:

Mancunium IP, 10th floor, 3 Hardman Street, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3HF.

Tel: +44 (0) 161 932 1710 Fax: +44 (0) 161 241 4842
www.mancunium-ip.co.uk