The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has replaced the Patent Office as the United Kingdom’s principal authority on intellectual property (IP), It has responsibility for granting patents, registering trademarks and designs and leading on policy for all IP including copyright.
The growth of home entertainment systems led Futuros Ltd, a company based in
Corsham, Wiltshire
, to address the problem of trailing wires connecting various component parts located at different parts of a room. The elegant solution it came up with is AmpLamp, a combined speaker, amplifier and lamp, which combines good design with advances in wireless and audio technology, to create a practical and attractive product.
With the help of a grant from SWERDA (South-West England Regional Development Agency), company founder Paul Frobisher took AmpLamp from original idea to finished product through an R&D process covering technical challenges, product design and into production. At every stage, it took care to ensure its IP was protected.
After initial R&D, Frobisher applied for a patent to protect the technology. The name, AmpLamp is protected by a registered trade mark. The appearance and feel of the product is protected by a registered design, covering the ceramic base and the look, which was created by Dominic Bromley.
“Protecting our IP gives a clear signal that we are serious about our technology and designs,” says Paul Frobisher. “It underpins our business and has been vital in securing investment. Businesses should think about IP at every stage of their development and it need not be as costly or as complicated to do as you may think.”
“British businesses prosper when they make informed decisions about intellectual property,” says Helen Hodgson, business development manager with the IPO. Located near Newport, S Wales, it helps businesses to understand the risks and opportunities that IP presents, through seminars and its website, which will soon have an on-line ‘IP Healthcheck tool’.
“The IP Healthcheck tool will be free to use and will help
artists, inventors, sole traders and small businesses identify, protect and commercially exploit their IP,” Hodgson says. “It will help identify if you have original IP, whether you own it or someone else does – and if so, who they are – and then identify the steps to take to protect yourself. There will also be guidance on how to exploit the commercial opportunities.”
The core of the tool is the responses to a set of quick and easy questions on the chosen IP topic. Based on those responses, the IPO will create a confidential report including a list of recommendations.
“We will suggest ways of protecting and exploiting your IP rights – and include an explanation of why we have made them,” she says. “It will give guidance on how to put each recommendation into practice and include links to useful information, appropriate websites and other resources.” The IPO Healthcheck tool launches in early Spring 2009 and will make access to the right IP information much easier for smaller businesses – without worry about high upfront costs.
www.ipo.gov.uk