Did you know that intellectual property is one of a business' most valuable assets? Yet it is still something that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups often overlook due to the preconception that it is too complex to address, particularly in the early stages of the business.

But, the benefits of incorporating IP in your business strategy are huge - whether protected through copyright, trademarks, or patents, use and understanding of IP sets you apart from your competitors, protecting your brand and maximising its value.

Yes IP is complex, but it's something all businesses need to understand in order to truly succeed. We're here to help SMEs cut through the legal jargon, with a summary of some of the key terms you need to know to ensure the success of your brand.

Abandonment: A patent may be abandoned in the event of failure to respond to a request from a patent office for more information within a set time limit, or failure to pay related fees. Anti-counterfeiting: Methods to oppose or prevent counterfeiting of sensitive or vulnerable products or services. Brand protection: Brand Protection is the comprehensive strategy that brand owners need in the fight against all forms of counterfeiting and collateral wrongdoing. Burden of Proof: The legal requirement to establish who is responsible for presenting evidence that proves or defeats a claim. CJEU: Court of Justice of the European Union. Claims: The extent, or the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. Clearance: A due diligence process to check whether IP owned by others may be a risk to your new venture. Copyright: The legal right granted to the creator of a concept or idea which is in some way recorded in physical or analogue form i.e. literary, musical or other artistic works. Design right: A type of Intellectual Property Protection that protects any visual aspects of a product i.e. the shape or configuration of 3D objects, rather than the methods or principles of an object. Dispute resolution: Resolving disagreements between two companies, or parties, out of court. Enforcement: Legal actions taken to maintain IP rights and ensure that no third party uses them without authorisation. EPO: European Patent Office. FRAND: 'Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory' terms, relating to the granting or licensing of rights to a specific technology if it is fundamental to a standard within that technology area. Goods & Services: When applying for a trademark, you must confirm which class of goods and/or services your trademark is associated with. Registering your trademark under a specific class prevents someone from registering the same or similar trademark within the same class. Harmonisation: The idea of a single, unitary Community trademark system. Hague System: The Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs enables the registration of up to 100 designs in 74 contracting parties covering 91 countries, through the filing of a single international application. It is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Infringement: The action of breaching the terms of a law or violation of an agreement i.e. the use of an invention without the permission of the patent, trademark or copyright owner. IPEC: Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. In the UK, this specialist court promotes quick decisions in IP litigation cases, used primarily by small and medium-sized businesses. Inventive Step: Inventions must involve an inventive step in order to be patentable in the UK i.e. not a routine or obvious modification to an existing invention. IPR (Intellectual Property Rights): The rights given to someone over the creations of their minds. They fall principally into four main areas; copyright, trademarks, design rights and patents.. Joint venture: A business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterised by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Know-How: In IP, Know-How refers to intangible assets including unpatented inventions or skills, trade secrets or other confidential company information. License: A licence grants a licensee permission to do something that would otherwise infringe the rights of the IP owner (the licensor). Madrid Protocol: Similar to the Hague system, the Madrid Protocol provides a mechanism to register trademarks in multiple countries with a single application. Mediation: A method of alternative dispute resolution that aims to resolve intellectual property disputes without having to go to court. The mediator’s role is not to make a decision on the dispute, but to help both parties reach an amicable solution. NDA: A 'non-disclosure agreement' is a legally binding contract of confidentiality that can protect data, knowledge, material or information from being disclosed. Novelty: A requirement for a patent to be patentable. In the United Kingdom, a patentable invention must be new and also involve an inventive step. An invention is considered new and has novelty if it has not previously been available to the public anywhere in the world. Opponent: The name given to a party who registers their objection to another party’s application for grant of a patent or registration of a trademark. Out-licensing: When an organisation allows another to use its intellectual property in return for a fee. Passing off: A type of infringement where a business, its goods or services are misrepresented by the infringer. Patent: A legal right granted by a government, or a governing body, that gives the inventor the right to stop others, for a limited period, from making, using or selling the invention without their permission. Quia Timet: An injunction to restrain wrongful acts that are not threatened or imminent but have not yet occurred. Registered trademark: The ® symbol provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been registered with a national trademark office. It can only be used in the countries where you have successfully registered with the relevant office. Revocation: A form of cancellation of a registered trademark where the grounds are limited to acts that occur after registration. Secondary: The act of distributing copyrighted work in a way that allows for the illegal consumption of the work in question. Soft IP: A contentious term sometimes used to refer to trademarks, copyright, design rights and passing off, in contrast to ‘hard IP’, which is sometimes used to refer to patents. Specification: The claims and description of a patent together make up its specification. Title: A patent title conveys to the user of patent documents the main content of the invention. Trademark: A design, symbol, word, or phrase that is either legally registered or established by use as the representation of a company or product. Trade secret: Valuable, undisclosed business information that gives the owner an economic or competitive advantage and is intended to remain confidential. UK IPO: UK Intellectual Property Office. The official government organisation responsible for all intellectual property in the United Kingdom. UPC: Unified Patent Court. A proposed common patent court open for participation of all member states of the European Union. Venture Capitalist (VC): Finance-providing investor for start-up organisations or small businesses to drive growth. Wilful infringement: When an invention is copied, or continues to be copied after its protected status is already known or made known to the person who is infringing. WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organisation. A self-funded UN agency with 189 member states that provides a global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. Withdrawn: Most commonly refers to an application that’s open to public inspection but has been withdrawn at the request of the applicant. X Patents: Some of the earliest patents issued by the United States government. Zombie Copyright: A term that appears in US copyright law and refers to a trademark that is 'resurrected' after the original copyright had expired.

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If you want to find out more about how we can help you protect your intellectual property, please contact Kate Swaine or Shelagh Carnegie.