What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual Property (IP) is any original creation that can be bought or sold. If you are a businessman/woman, an inventor, an artist or an author, IP will affect you. Intellectual Property can often be overlooked because it is intangible and is therefore often difficult to value. For established organisations, IP can represent a large proportion of the value of that company, in terms of the reputation and goodwill attached to their brand.

Intellectual Property consists of four main areas of protection:

• Trademarks – protect your branding, for example, company name and logo.
• Patents – protect how technology works, inventions and technical improvements to existing technology.
• Registered Designs – protect the look and appearance of a product.
• Copyright – an automatic right that protects literary of artistic works.