IP@UWTSD

IP@uwtsd Protecting your Ideas and avoid being sued World Intellectual Property Day 2016

Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined

26 April Why worry about IP? Chats discussion, why students need to know and how we can help.

What is IP?

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Intellectual Property or IP is a legal term that refers to creations of the mind.

Future generations should understand the ins and outs of intellectual property. This is important for everything from defending our biggest or newest brands to the copyright in pop music and the patents for life saving drugs.

- Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Why is IP Important?

IP protection is critical to promote innovation.

Without protection of ideas, businesses and individuals would not reap the full benefits of their inventions.

Similarly, artists would not be fully compensated for their creations. It stops others taking your work and using it as their own.

Get IP Smart!

You own IP if you: • Created it • Bought the rights from the creator or previous owner • Have a brand that could be a trademark IP can: • Have more than one owner • Belong to people or businesses • Be sold or transferred

The copyright symbol is generally followed by the name of the copyright holder and the year of first publication.

The aim is to inform any third parties and to deter potential infringers.

The trademark symbol is only to be used if the IP has been filed with the trademark office.

Types of

Examples of IP

Protection Copyright

Art, photography, films, television, music, web content, sound recordings

Trademark

Product, name, logos, jingles

Patents

Inventions and products. e.g. machine parts or medicine

Design rights

Shapes of objects

Registered designs

Appearance of a product including shape, packaging and patterns.

(automatic right)

(automatic right)

Protect your IP!

Protecting your intellectual property makes it easier to take legal action against anyone who steals or copies it.

You should keep your intellectual property secret until it’s registered, if it isn’t protected by an automatic right.

You can register your IP at www.gov.uk/intellectual-property

What do the National Union of Students say? According to recent UK based research ‌

33% of students say they did

not believe their awareness and understanding of IP to be sufficient.

40% of students believe that IP is an important issue.

77%

More than of students believed an awareness of IP to be relevant for them in their future career.

Facts & Figures The majority of IPR investment is on assets protected by copyright (46%), unregistered design rights (21%) and trademarks (21%).

48%

In 2011, (ÂŁ65.6bn) of knowledge investment in the UK market sector was protected by IPRs.

Jo Ashburner Farr

Jo Ashburner Farr is a UWTSD graduate entrepreneur who started her ‘Noonoo’ business within three months of graduating in 2004 and was awarded UK National Businesswoman of the Year in 2006. Noonoo won many awards for innovation and design worldwide and in 2014, Jo changed her business model to that of a social enterprise.

Red Dragon Manufacturing Ltd now manufactures sewn and printed flags, supplies public and private sector contracts and delivers training for sustainable employment for those outside mainstream employment. Jo was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year (Manufacturing) in 2015.

www.reddragonflagmakers.co.uk

What IP means to Jo...

IP is ownership of ideas, brand and business and I can’t recommend enough the importance of staking your claim if you’re serious about your ideas and business.

I own the brand ‘Noonoo’and ‘Red Dragon Flagmakers’ amongst others – and both brands have been targeted and copied. Only because I took the initiative to invest in IP have I been successful in stopping those without an imagination of their own by presenting my proven ownership in trademark and product design through IP channels.

If I hadn’t secured the IP for my businesses, the brand and businesses’ longevity would have been short lived. I believe that when starting out, even though I had to scrape together the pennies to buy the basics, the investment has been so very worth it in the long run.

I’ve seen IP theft happen so many times so do not under estimate the appeal or the audience for your product and brand – once you go public, you will lose the right to both if you’re not covered. Remember - an application for a patent is pending for a period of time to allow you the space to try, test and tweak your ideas. If at the end of the pending period you have changed your design more than 20%, then consider re-applying for a new patent or amend the original and start the process over.

A domain name, Twitter (and other social media) handle, trademark and company registration are also worth the comparatively little expense up front to give your business a chance of owning the name and identity at least.

Creative Bubble is an empty shop at 13 Cradock Street in Swansea. It’s a space for students to try out their ideas, enterprises and initiatives. Since launch, the Creative Bubble shop has hosted performances, exhibitions, meetings, workshops, fundraisers, film premieres, pop-up shops and social evenings.

- Film & Television Graduate

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Because of my involvement in Creative Bubble, I have set up my own business AND have a job with a company I met via the project.

Whatever your discipline, the shop is a free resource you can use (with friendly support from the UWTSD Bubble team). This is an opportunity to have the keys to a real shop space and realise your ideas in a safe environment.

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Nothing can beat the feeling of having the keys to your own space for a week – we ran a pop-up shop and raised money for our final exhibition. It helped us see the commercial opportunities available to us when we leave.

- Art & Design student

Creative Bubble also runs a monthly ‘Pizza with a Pro’ session where students meet an entrepreneur for a workshop (and get free pizza!).

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Pizza with a Pro events are fun and friendly. They are a great opportunity to meet and hear from inspirational people.

- Business and Management student

Creative Bubble has helped me to see new ways I can sell my work - being an artist can also be a viable career.

- Art & Design student

@CBSwansea SwanseaCreativeBubble www.uwtsd.ac.uk/creative-bubble Enquiries: Lucy Beddall, Creative Bubble, lucy.beddall@uwtsd.ac.uk

IP Certification Earn yourself a free CPD accredited certification from the intellectual property office, include it on your CV and show your knowledge of IP.

www.ipo.gov.uk/blogs/iptutor

IP Advice

Image used with permission

by Karl Mountford Š

If you have a business idea and need support, contact Kathryn Penaluna our Entreprise Manager for more advice on Intellectual Property.

kathryn.penaluna@uwtsd.ac.uk

Expert Advice

I want to copyright my work but it’s too expensive.

Copyright is an Intellectual Property right that comes into effect automatically as soon as the work is recorded, so it is free. So for example as soon as a painting is put down onto canvas, copyright exists in that painting. To enforce copyright ‘ownership’ must be proven, so make sure that good records are kept as to when the work was created – this is more to do with proving ‘ownership’ than copying.

I am using a photo I found on Google Images – if it is there it’s free to use on my marketing literature isn’t it?

Not necessarily – copyright exists in the image, so if you copy the image you may be infringing the owner’s rights. Permission should therefore be sought, and may be given for a fee.

I paid for some photos from this photographer and want to put them on my website. He says I can’t. He’s wrong isn’t he?

The owner of copyright in a work is the person who came up with the work, so if someone takes a picture of you then they own the copyright in that picture. Think wedding photos, where the copyright to those wedding photos resides with the photographer.

You can however agree (make sure this is in writing) with a third party that copyright in the photos is transferred over to you, perhaps upon payment of the photographer’s bill.

I want to copyright my invention. Can I?

Even individuals with knowledge of Intellectual Property ask this type of question, which shows confusion of different Intellectual Property types. There are four main types, nicely embodied in a modern mobile phone. They are: (a) Copyright – in the artistic work of the icons on the screen; (b) Trademarks in the name or logo of the manufacturer; (c) Designs in the appearance/ shape of the phone itself; (d) Patents in how the phone actually functions, irrespective of looks. So, whilst copyright will exist in the drawings of the invention for example, a patent is required to protect how the invention works.

I have come up with this great new invention – I put it online and have had loads of interest and think I should get a patent. Can I?

No! Once your invention has been made publically available it is no longer possible to get patent protection. So a patent application must be filed beforehand. It is still possible to discuss an invention with other parties under confidence but make sure that there is a signed agreement in place. The UK Intellectual Property Office website has a sample Non-Disclosure Agreement available to download.

I’m not going to bother with patents – big companies will just steal my idea anyway.

In reality if you are selling a commercially successful product if there is an associated patent then it is much more interesting to a big company. A big company liking the product may be interested in buying the patent to avoid bad publicity and also stop their other competitors from selling a similar product. They may be much harder negotiators regarding purchase of the patent, but in 14 years of practise I have never seen a definite case of this ‘stealing’ problem. Indeed, some large companies won’t even talk to an inventor or small company without a patent application pending in order to make ownership of an invention clear and therefore avoid this accusation.

What makes a good trade mark?

Don’t choose the generic name for what you will be doing, e.g.

SOAP for soap products, and avoid anything that is obviously descriptive. Something distinctive which helps you stand out from the crowd is a good place to start.

I have a registered company name and a domain name registration – do I need a registered trade mark as well?

If you want to be in the best position to be able to stop others from using your trade mark then a trade mark registration is the way to go – a company name and domain name registration gives no legal rights to stop others from using the same name.

What if someone else has already registered the name I want?

If someone else already owns your chosen name for what you intend to be doing then you should strongly consider rebranding.

If you don’t, your use of the name could infringe their trade mark rights, and infringement can result in you being sued.

Answers to our students questions were kindly provided

by Annabel Hanratty and Tom Baker, trademark and patent attorneys respectively, with UDL LLP (www.udl.co.uk), a firm of specialist Intellectual Property advisors.

Dates not to miss 26 April Pizza with Pro’s - Warren Fauvel, Nudjed, Alex Symonds, UKIPO and Tom Baker, UDL 6.00 – 7.30 Creative Bubble, Swansea 26 April Pizza with a Pro – Kim Stoddart, Guardian writer and social entrepreneur, Red Room, Lampeter 6.00 – 7.30 13 – 17 June Race to Market A 5 day challenge getting real world experience, working with successful business people.

To find out more and to apply see http://lifedesign.uwtsd.ac.uk/race-to-market-2016/ 14 – 20 November Global Enterprise Week For more information on any of these events and to receive regular updates, contact: amanda.hughes@uwtsd.ac.uk

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Editor

21 year old, final year Advertising & Brand Design student.

Intellectual Property knowledge is paramount to success in a competitive world full of great ideas and design. Benefit from your creations by fully protecting them.

Contact me at:

ross.weaver@msn.com

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Ross Weaver

Enterprise & Entrepreneurial Support If you’ve ever wondered about starting your own business the Enterprise team at RIES is here to help you explore entrepreneurship.

There are many ways you can get involved with us such as idea development and entrepreneurship skills workshops, joining us to meet and listen to entrepreneur guest speakers and we can support you one to one as you develop your business idea and then bring it to life.

We also belong to a network of activity providers headed by the Welsh Government’s Big Ideas Wales so you also have the opportunity to attend events, participate in challenges and competitions across Wales and receive start up support from entrepreneurs and business consultants.

Find out more by contacting the Enterprise Team: Swansea Kath Penaluna - kathryn.penaluna@uwtsd.ac.uk Amanda Hughes - amanda.hughes@uwtsd.ac.uk Tel: 01792 481199 Carmarthen & Lampeter Sally Hewes – s.hewes@uwtsd.ac.uk Tel: 01267 676864