What is intellectual property? Types and laws explained

There are many important considerations when starting a business, and one of those is intellectual property (IP). 

Ultimately, IP is what protects your original idea, branding assets and inventions — preventing others from trying to copy your efforts.

IP is an extremely valuable asset for businesses as it gives you a competitive advantage, creates new revenue streams through royalties, builds a strong brand identity, and even attracts new investment and funding opportunities.

But understanding the ins and outs of IP can be complicated. To help you, this article will explain everything you need to know, including the types of IP, why it’s beneficial for your business and how to protect yours.

What is intellectual property?

IP is any kind of creation of the mind that you can legally own — such as inventions, literary/artistic works and designs — which can be protected by the law and owned like physical property.

A business that has IP has legal protection that gives it control over how its ideas, products or brand are used by others.

IP protects both physical and intangible assets. Physical assets are things you can see and touch, while intangible assets are creations or ideas that don’t have a physical form — like inventions, brand names or creative works.

However, some areas don’t count as IP. These include facts, common knowledge, scientific/mathematical discoveries, a book/movie title, slogans/short phrases (unless registered as a trademark), cash or residential properties.

What intellectual property is legally protected in the UK?

Some assets are automatically protected as IP, while others require registration first.

Three types of IP are automatically protected in the UK, meaning you don’t need to register them. This includes copyright (creative works like books, music, art, etc.), unregistered design rights (the shape and internal configuration of products) and trade secrets (business information that’s kept secret, such as recipes and client lists).

Everything else — such as patents, trademarks and registered designs — needs to be formally registered with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) to be legally protected.

The UKIPO is a government body that grants and registers IP rights. They are ultimately responsible for administering and enforcing IP laws in the UK, maintaining public records of registered rights, and helping businesses protect and manage their IP. 

What types of intellectual property are there?

There are several main types of IP in the UK, each designed to protect different kinds of creations. Understanding these types is essential for anyone looking to safeguard their ideas, products or brand.

Copyright

This protects the rights of the creator of original works of IP, thus preventing others from copying, distributing or adapting them without permission. 

Elements such as business ideas, titles and slogans are not protected by copyright because they only cover original creative works that are expressed in a tangible form. For example, literary works (books, poems, articles, etc.), musical and dramatic works (lyrics, compositions and plays), visual art (paintings, photographs, sculptures), movies and computer software.

Copyright only lasts for a limited time, and the duration depends on the type of work. Some examples include:

• Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works: 70 years after the creator’s death
• Sound recordings: 70 years after publication
• Broadcasts: 50 years after the broadcast date
• Films: 70 years after the death of the director, screenplay author or composer
• AI-generated works: 50 years for AI-generated works that don’t have a human creator
• Published editions: 25 years after the year in which the edition was published

Trademarks

A trademark is a type of IP that helps people recognise where goods or services come from, by identifying them with a unique name, logo or symbol. 

Trademarks protect your business name, product names, distinctive slogans (e.g. Nike’s “Just Do It”), recognisable logos, and specific brand colours or sounds. 

Similar to copyright, a trademark provides legal protection for a business and prevents others from trying to imitate its branding in a way that could mislead or confuse customers. It also allows the owner to take legal action against infringement if someone uses the trademark without permission.

There are two trademark symbols that businesses can use:

• ™(TM): shows you’re claiming rights to your brand’s name, logo or slogan. It can be used even if you haven’t officially registered your trademark yet.
• ® (R): can only be used once your trademark has been registered. Using it without registration can result in penalties.

Patents

Patents are legal rights granted by the government to give a creator exclusive control over their invention for a limited period (typically up to 20 years). This allows the creator to stop others from making, using or selling their invention without permission. 

There are three types of patents, which are:

• Utility patents: the functional aspect of an invention, such as how it works and what it does (e.g. a new type of engine, a smartphone app that uses a unique method, a medical device with a specific mechanism).
• Design patents: the unique and ornamental look of an object (e.g. the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle, the layout and visual style of a smartphone or game controller).
• Plant patents: new and distinct varieties of plants that have been asexually reproduced (e.g. through grafting or cutting), rather than by seed.

A patent period is typically 20 years from the date of filing. Once this ends, the creator’s invention can enter the public domain. 

To qualify as a parent, the invention must be new, involve an inventive step and be capable of industrial application.

Registered designs

This protects the appearance of a product, including its shape, lines, colours, contours, texture, material and decorative elements. It also grants the creator the right to prevent others from making, using or selling the design in the country where it’s registered. 

Registered design protection can be extended to specific parts of the product (e.g. the shape of a car’s headlights, a handbag pattern, the handle of a coffee mug, etc.), graphical symbols, product packaging and typefaces.

The maximum protection length for registered designs is 25 years, and can be renewed every five years.

Trade secrets

Trade secrets are confidential business information that gives a company a competitive advantage, such as formulas, recipes, manufacturing processes, client lists or marketing strategies — all of which are legally protected as long as they remain secret.

Unlike other types of IP, trade secrets can last indefinitely as long as they are kept confidential. However, protection is lost if the information becomes publicly available, reverse-engineered (deconstructing a product to figure out how it was designed or made) or leaked without authorisation.

Why is intellectual property important for small businesses?

IP is important for small businesses as it not only protects their unique assets, but also prevents others from copying or infringing on their products, brand names and designs — making it easier to take legal action against such cases.

Adidas vs Thom Browne

In December 2024, sport apparel company Adidas lost a trademark case against Thom Browne. Adidas had previously sued the fashion brand over a dispute, claiming that its four-bar design on its products was an infringement of Adidas’s three-stripe mark.

The court ruled in favour of Thom Browne, finding that its design was sufficiently distinct from Adidas’s three-stripe trademark and did not cause confusion among customers.

M&S vs Aldi

Probably the most publicised lawsuit of 2021, supermarket giant Marks & Spencer (M&S) sued Aldi for allegedly copying its popular “Colin the Caterpillar” cake with a similar chocolate roll called “Cuthbert the Caterpillar”, arguing that it infringed on its trademark and design rights.

However, no single party won the case, as M&S and Aldi reached a confidential settlement. While the specific details of the agreement weren’t released, Aldi brought Cuthbert back to the shelves with an altered design, including changing the face to make it more distinct.

InterDigital Technology Corporation vs Lenovo Group Ltd

In 2019, InterDigital initiated a lawsuit against Lenovo, alleging that the company had been using its standard-essential patents (SEPs) without having a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) license.

Four years later, the UK High Court ruled that Lenovo should pay a lump sum of $138.7m (approximately £103.86m) for a global FRAND license, covering sales of mobile phone devices from 2007 to 31 December 2023. The court also determined that Lenovo should pay for all past sales, including interest, and rejected Lenovo’s arguments regarding limitation periods.

How much does it cost to protect intellectual property?

Based on information from the government website, these are the costs you can expect to protect your IP:

• Patents: At least £310
• Trademarks: At least £170
• Registered designs: From £50 for one design to £150 for up to 50

For example, a coffee shop registering its business name and logo for IP will cost around £170 for one trademark application, plus an extra fee if it wants to register in more than one category of goods and services. 

As copyright and trade secrets have automatic protection, you will not need to pay any fees to secure your legal rights.

How do I protect my intellectual property?

Protecting your IP depends on the type you have. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you can do to protect each one:

• Copyright: while protection is automatic, it helps to keep records of creation dates (e.g. drafts, emails or timestamps) to prove that you are the original creator in case someone challenges your IP rights.
• Trademarks: register your trademark with the UKIPO, use the above symbols (™ for unregistered trademarks and ® for registered trademarks) and keep a close eye on the market for any potential copycats so you can act quickly.
• Patents: apply for a patent through the UKIPO and make sure to keep your invention confidential until the patent is filed.
• Registered designs: file a registered design application with the UKIPO. Remember to renew it every five years, and that you can only protect specific parts of the product (not the whole thing).
• Trade secrets: ensure to keep information secret by limiting access, using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and implementing security measures (e.g. passwords, encryption and secure storage).

For more complex patents, it’s worth getting legal support from an IP lawyer or patent attorney to make sure your application is correctly drafted and your invention is fully protected.

Where do I register intellectual property in the UK?

To register an IP, simply visit the UKIPO section of the government website. There, you can choose which IP you want to apply for, see the cost for each one, and check what does and doesn’t qualify for protection.

What happens if I don’t protect my intellectual property?

Not protecting your IP could cause a lot of problems for your business. You risk losing your IP to others, which can then lead to financial loss, reputational damage, being forced to rebrand and difficulty in imposing your rights.

Having an IP can protect you from these scenarios. For example, fashion giant Hugo Boss has filed lawsuits against multiple SMEs for using the word “boss” in their names. Despite its seemingly aggressive stance, monitoring for potential infringement helps to both protect your assets and give you more power if you need to take action.

While getting IP rights in place can sometimes be a long process, as well as costing money, it’s a worthwhile investment that can save you from much bigger losses in the future.