• Intellectual Property (IP) advice and guidance
• An introduction to all types of IP, including copyright, trade marks, patents and designs
• Information on patent searching and the patent application process

Key Areas of Expertise
IP, copyright, design, trade marks, trade mark searching, patents, patent searching, patent applications, IP databases.

Background
The team at the Business & IP Centre Newcastle is certified by the UK Intellectual Property Office to provide initial information to entrepreneurs and inventors.

Intellectual property (IP) protects the expression of an idea. When you start and run a business, you are creating IP assets and are likely to use other people’s IP too.

There are four main types of IP which protect different notions; often you will be using more than one type in your business.

• Copyright protects original works. Copyrighted works include images, videos, text, sound recordings.
• Trade marks protect elements of a brand. It can be a product name, a logo, a tagline.
• Designs protect the look of a product. It’s really about the aesthetics, the appearance of the product.
• Patents protect a new way of doing something. It is often associated with inventions and new technologies.

Book an IP surgery to better understand how this applies to you and how you can:

• avoid infringing other people’s IP;
• have a better idea of what IP you own;
• take steps to protect your IP assets.