Intellecture

Intellectual property (or IP) refers to creative work, which can be treated as an asset or physical property. Intellectual property rights fall principally into four main areas; copyright, trademarks, design rights and patents.

Copyright: Copyright applies to work that is recorded in some way; rights exist in items such as literary, artistic, musical and dramatic work as well as films, sound recordings and typographical arrangements. It gives the author specific rights in relation to the work, prohibits unauthorised actions, and allows the author to take legal action against instances of infringement or plagiarism.

Copyright is an automatic international right, and excepting specific considerations for US citizens, a single registration with the UK Copyright Service will provide the evidence to help prove and protect your rights at a worldwide level. Immediate protection is available via the online copyright registration facility, while postal applications are typically processed in just a few days.

Trademarks: A trademark can be a name, word, slogan, design, symbol or other unique device that identifies a product or organisation.

Trademarks are registered at a national or territory level with an appointed government body and may take anywhere between 6 and 18 months to be processed.

Registering in countries such as the US, the UK, Japan, etc will protect your mark in that country only, but within the European Union, there now exists a Community Trade Mark (CTM) which covers the mark in all EU countries.

Registered trademarks may be identified by the abbreviation ‘TM’, or the ‘®’ symbol. (it is illegal to use the ® symbol or state that the trademark is registered until the trademark has in fact been registered).

In the US there is also a differentiation between marks used for products or services, with a classification called service-marks used for services, though they in fact receive the same legal protection as trademarks.

In most countries, the national...