Protecting your intellectual property makes it easier to take legal action against anyone who steals or copies it.
The type of protection you can get depends on what you’ve created.
| Type of protection | Examples of intellectual property |
|---|---|
| Copyright (automatic right) |
Literary works (including writing), art, photography, films, TV, music, web content, sound recordings |
| Trade marks | Product names, logos, slogans |
| Patents | Inventions and products, eg machines and machine parts, tools, medicines |
| Design right (automatic right) |
Shapes of objects |
| Registered designs | Appearance of a product including, shape, packaging, patterns, colours, decoration |
More than one type of protection could be linked to a single product, eg you could:
- register the name and logo as a trade mark
- protect a product’s unique shape as a registered design
- patent a completely new working part
- use copyright to protect drawings of the product
Courtesy: https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property-an-overview/protect-your-intellectual-property
