F.1 The key types of UK IPRs are:
● Patents - available for new inventions relating to most industrially applicable processes and products. An application for a patent to be registered must be filed before the invention is publicly disclosed; indeed prior public disclosure or publication will prevent a patent from being granted.
● Copyright - a right which protects literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes and typographical arrangements from being wholly or substantially copied. The subject matter must be original and recorded in some way. Copyright arises automatically and so there is no requirement for the copyright to be registered in the UK.
● Designs - where a design is new and has individual character, the shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article may be protected by registering the design at the Designs Registry or, if not registered, by virtue of the unregistered design right.
● Trademarks - distinctive signs in the form of words, logos, colours, shapes, sounds and even smells which can be graphically recorded may be registered as trademarks to protect the way a supplier represents his goods and services. Unregistered trademarks and branding such as the look and feel or general "get up" of a product or its packaging can be protected by the law of passing off which does not require the packaging or product to be registered.
● Database rights - the right to prevent extraction or re-use of the whole or a substantial part of the data contained in a database in the production of which a significant amount of time and/or money has been invested.
F.2 The periods of protection for each of these rights vary greatly.
F.3 Not all intellectual or intangible assets can be protected by IPRs. Confidential know-how and expertise are often an important asset within the public sector, but one which cannot be protected directly as specific IPRs. Contributing know-how to a JV is potentially risky as there is a danger that the know-how will be leaked by the JV partner. The public sector body will therefore have to ensure that any such information is disclosed under strict obligations of confidentiality and enforce these obligations to retain their value.
F.4 Intellectual property rights in other relevant jurisdictions may also need to be considered.