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What is Intellectual Property? | Quality Printing London
21 February 2017
We have recently been working closely with Ken Sewell at Nucleus-IP, an experienced company of trade mark attorneys that register and protect intellectual property rights. The service they offer is likely to be of particular interest to designers and other people working in creative industries for whom intellectual property is one of the most important things to understand.
Generally there are three basic types of intellectual property… copyrights, patents and trademarks, all of which work to legally protect your right to your own creative ideas. You can apply for each of these types of protection through the UK government website but the type you require depends of the work that you are looking to protect.
- Copyright laws grant the authors of original work (and anybody they should choose to grant permission to) the exclusive rights to publish, distribute, perform or display that work. Although it is most often thought of in relation to written work, copyright law can be applied to compositions, artwork, plays and other original intellectual work that is either published or unpublished.
- Patents are rights for inventors that prevent your product, or idea for a product, from being manufactured and sold by anybody else without your express permission. They are granted for a specific time period, e.g. in the UK it is usually 20 years. Patents are only relevant if your product is completely new and something that can be made or used, you cannot get a patent for an idea to modify an existing product.
- Trademarks are a type of intellectual property you can register to protect names, logos, music, colours etc. that are specific to and indicative of your brand. It is a legal signifier that the trademarked item represents the goods and services sold by you. It prevents other brands from making similar design choices that may cause it to become confused with your brand and potentially harm its reputation.
If you need advice on registering trademarks visit the Nucleus-IP website for more information.
If you are at the start of your journey in creating a brand or business you may require some custom stationery, direct mail marketing leaflets or brochures or other promotional items to get your name out there. We can help with any of these requirements . To discuss further with us, please get in touch by calling 020 7407 2875 or emailing us at sales@solways.co.uk. We would be delighted to help.
Solways Printers offers print processes away from the mainstream. Our specialities encompass specialist print processes: duplexed (THICK) business cards, triplexed (EXTRA THICK) business cards, watermarking, foil blocking, embossing, digital embossing, indigo digital, die-cutting, thermography, lithography, book production and magazines.
