Tips on How to Protect Your Intellectual Property (IP) During the Design and Launch of New Products

Laura Newbold Breen, ACID’s CEO, joined the company in December 2023 as COO following 10 years as Head of Legal for Magmatic Ltd, previous owner of the Trunki brand.   Laura holds a Masters’ Degree in Psychology and has extensive experience in a wide range of business areas including HR, Operations and H&S as well as intellectual property (IP). She is passionate about UK manufacturers, designers and SMEs and committed to supporting them navigate the complexities of IP.

 

 

Designing a product to launch is such an exciting time but it can also be an anxious one. That’s why it’s so important to protect your new designs from idea to marketplace. There are four top tips:

 

 

1. Understand IP Basics

 

IP can seem a bit of a minefield but ACID are here to help you understand the basics.

In short, you need to consider the following:

 

Trade Marks

There are unregistered and registered trade marks. A registered trade mark is a unitary right. It lasts for life if you renew it  every 10 years. A trade mark can be your company name, product name, or you can trade mark a new design range…and you can trade mark logos as well. If you register your trade mark you can include the symbol ® If you rely on unregistered trade marks you can use ™ in the UK.

 

Copyright lasts for life plus 70 years and is an automatic right in the UK (meaning you don’t need to register it). However, it’s good to have an audit trail for proof and date of ownership (more on this later!). Own it! Always use ©Yours or your company name/year e.g., @ACIDAugust2024

 

Patents – these cover inventions and last for approximately 20 years, providing they are regularly renewed, but you can only file for a patent if you have kept your idea out of the public domain! i.e., only shared with your patent lawyer/advisor or under a confidentiality agreement. 

 

Trade Secrets are your knowledge, skills, technical information and know-how; guard them with your life and keep them to yourself!

 

Design rights   

These can be a little confusing! There are three types:

 

Registered, which last for 25 years (renewable every 5 years) and give you the strongest protection.

 

Unregistered, which last between 3-15 years depending on when your design reached market, and in the latter 5 years can be requested as licensable, meaning somebody can copy it but must pay you a royalty. Unregistered design rights cover “shape and configuration”

 

Supplementary, lasting for 0-3 years, was brought in post Brexit to replace the EU unregistered right in the UK, under which the UK can benefit from protection of one or more of the following: lines, colour, shape, ornamentation, contours, texture or materials.

 

Whether you attend one of our free webinars or join as a member to access a plethora of factsheets and information, we can help you get your head around all the different IP rights. You can also find useful information on the IPO website.

 

 

2. Keep your secrets, secret!

 

Where design and IP is concerned, sharing isn’t caring. As you can see from the IP rights above, it’s important not to give anything away too early on until you’ve had legal advice. For example, if you have come up with a potentially patentable process, you don’t want to go public with it until you have either secured a patent or been advised it isn’t patentable.

 

Equally, trade secrets are your hidden weapon. Keep anything like recipes, manufacturing processes, business agreements and so on to yourself.

 

 

3. Do your homework

 

It is vital at idea stage you check for similar designs and trade marks for your idea, to ensure you are not copying and potentially infringing somebody else’s design rights or trade marks. This will mitigate any risk of you being accused of infringement.

 

You can do this through searching the IPO for existing trade marks, designs and patents.

 

It is also worth attending exhibitions and seeing what is already on the market. Events such as Autumn Fair will give you an overview

 

However, sometimes it can be difficult to decipher how similar something is. It is so dependent on what is referred to as the ‘informed user’, i.e. the opinion of somebody looking at the product. At ACID, we have lots of helpful factsheets to help you understand IP in depth, as well as access to free legal advice from a choice of six, ACID endorsed legal affiliates.

 

 

4. Be prepared

 

The importance of a design audit trail cannot be underestimated. This is a key element of your preparation during the various stages of design (concept, design drawings, prototypes and different progress iterations) before launch.

 

Though unregistered designs  and copyright works do not require registration, should you ever suspect anyone of copying your work, you will need to provide an audit trail to prove date of creation and ownership. The ACID IP Databank is a FREE, secure vault for members to upload designs and important documents to obtain a Police Intellectual Property Unit (PIPCU) endorsed certificate to give 3rd party evidence for that all important audit trail. The ACID IP Databank has a 10MB file limit, so you can even upload videos! Each upload has a unique tamperproof number generated.

 

If you choose to launch your product at an exhibition, it’s a good idea to research if the exhibition is ACID accredited. Hyve are an ACID accredited exhibition organiser and this means they have a zero tolerance to IP infringement and actively work alongside ACID with a strict exhibition protocol. It also means ACID and their legal affiliates will be in attendance for any assistance needed.

 

Finally, protect before you go. Whether it’s a launch at an exhibition, on social media or in bricks and mortar retail, whether in the UK or abroad, ensure you have trade mark protection as an absolute minimum and familiarise yourself with all the applicable IP for your design.

 

 

Remember, you can always contact ACID for any help at info@acid.uk.com

 

Find us on stand 20 C42 at Autumn Fair!

 

Want to learn more about Exhibiting and IP? ACID Lunchtime Learning brings you ‘Exhibition Know-How’ on 28th August. Register Now.

 

 

The information provided in this article does not provide a complete statement of the present law and you should always take legal advice in respect of your particular circumstances.