A thorough patent search can reveal what has already been invented, helping to prevent wasted effort on ideas that aren’t new. It also supports strategic decisions like R&D direction, partnership opportunities, and market entry. Additionally, analysing patents can provide insights into competitors’ activities and emerging trends in a particular field, making it a valuable tool for innovation and business planning.

In this session, we cover the pros and cons of freely available patent databases, and strategies for conducting basic patent searches across various technological fields.

A hands-on session looking at how to set up and maintain an IP Register and why you should even bother.

We will also look at how to record (and disclose) any new inventions to your supervisors.

Trade marks protect signs indicating the commercial origin of a product or service.  This content includes a deep dive on the difference between registered trade marks and unregistered trade marks, what they protect, when you need one and how to get one.  This content also covers the purpose of business names and domain names and their limitations.

We will also look at what happens when someone infringes your trade mark or if you happen to infringe some else’s.

Registered designs protect how a product looks.  This content includes a deep dive on the nature of designs, what they protect, when you need one and how to get one.

We will also look at what happens when someone infringes your design or if you infringe someone else’s.

Copyright protects artistic expression.  This content includes a deep dive on the nature of copyright, the different types of works protected by copyright and the various limitations and exemptions that apply.

We will also look at what happens when someone infringes your copyright or if you happen to infringe someone else’s.

Patents protect the way an invention works.  This content includes a deep dive on the nature of patents, what they protect, when you need one and how to get one.

We will also look at what happens when someone infringes your patent or if you happen to infringe someone else’s.

There are a collection of intellectual property rights that can be used protect various aspects of a product, process or business.

This content includes an overview of the different types of intellectual property protections and how they work together to provide an competitive advantage to your organisation.

Research shows that organisations with registered IP are more likely to retain staff, more likely to attract investment and more likely to experience significant growth.

This content includes a scenario-based case study exploring why intellectual property is important to an organisation and what can go wrong when it is not managed properly.  We will look at protecting confidentiality, consequences of IP leakage and what the evidence shows are the benefits of IP to an organisation.