Your intellectual property (IP) is a valuable asset and securing and protecting it can be essential to your business's success.

There are four kinds of intellectual property which can be protected:

• Inventions, which you may be able to patent. Patents protect the technical and functional aspects of products and processes.
• Designs, which can be protected by design right or by design registration. Designs protect the visual appearance or eye appeal of products.
• Publications and recordings, which can be protected by copyright.
• a name or symbol for your product or service, which can be protected with trade mark registration.

Hot topic: 10 ways to protect your intellectual property

Intellectual property (IP) theft is surprisingly common. If you haven’t taken steps to protect your logo, designs, trade marks or copyrighted material, others could easily start using your brand. Find out how to keep your IP safe
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Typical questions

• How can I protect valuable or sensitive business information?
• I'm not sure if my company has much intellectual property. Do I still need to protect it?

This is just the tip of the iceberg. You will find much more of this valuable material through Directors' Information Gateway (DIG). Please log in with your IoD membership number and password for full access, or contact us for further assistance.

Did you know?

Did you know that, as an IoD member, you can receive free and independent advice on intellectual property issues such as copyright, patents and trademarks by contacting:

• Directors' Law Express, our legal helpline, for a quick answer to a legal question
• Directors' Advisory Service, an appointment based service, for more in-depth discussions