IP for your Business

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What is Intellectual Property and how is it protected?

Intellectual property (IP) refers to intellectual creations of the mind. It is a collective term for a number of legal rights that protect creative or innovative endeavours such as inventions, brand names or logos, industrial designs or literary and other artistic works.

Frequently, more than one intellectual property rights (IP Rights) can exist at the same time to form an IP portfolio. For example, a household appliance, for example, may be simultaneously protected by patents, trademark and/or industrial design right. IP Rights are commercial assets which can be bought, sold, licensed or even mortgaged.

Patents

Protect technical articles, processes or improvements to articles or processes.

Trademarks

For protecting use of certain words, slogans or logos associated with good or services an individual, a product or a business.

Industrial Designs

Industrial Designs protect the appearance, that is the look and feel of a commercial product.

Copyright

Copyright  protects literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Copyright may also be used for the protection of computer programs.

Avoiding Infringing And Third Party Rights

How Can We Help?

Based on our own experience and the experience of our clients, we know that launching your innovative product or service can be a minefield. You need to know whether any existing IP rights that conflict with your patents, trademarks or designs, could hinder your ability to commercialise your product.

Intellectual Property Training and Education

Tomkins offer training and education programmes for companies of all sizes and in all fields. Please contact us for further details.

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Benefits of IP to your Business

IP confers legal ownership. With ownership comes control. With control comes opportunity.

By registering a patent, trade mark, design or using copyright or confidential know-how it is possible to own your ideas. Then you can control who can make, use or sell your invention or use your trade mark(s), logo(s) and designs as you have the right to prevent others from doing so. Without IP your ideas are free to be used by others.

Commercialising Your IP

After registration and protection comes commercialisation. Taking the idea from genesis to the marketplace.

Funding of IP

IP funding should be done on an investment basis. IP should return value. That value may be retained market share and/or additional revenue generation (for example by licensing or sale).

What can Tomkins do for you?

At Tomkins we appreciate the need for clear, trust-worthy and business-focused IP advice. We have identified and protected IP for Inventors, Investors, businesses and academic institutions for over 80 years.

Services

Tomkins is a full-service IP firm offering expertise in patents, trade marks, copyrights, designs and other services.

Why use Tomkins?

Tomkins is a full-service IP firm with over 80 years experience assisting clients with Patents, Trademarks, Designs and Copyright.

Workshops

We provide a variety of workshops to inform and aid you in your IP requirements, from open group sessions to confidential closed sessions.