Small businesses
need to do more to protect and exploit their innovations,
according to research published today by the Intellectual Property
Office (IPO).
The ‘Intellectual Property Awareness Survey of Business’ has
shown that only 15 percent of small companies have ever sought
advice on safeguarding their ideas. Only 11 percent of firms
overall assign responsibility for managing intellectual property
(IP) rights. This is compared to 43 per cent of larger companies,
meaning that smaller enterprises risk missing out on valuable
income from their creativity.
Announcing the results during a visit to Plymouth University to
talk to final year robotics students about the value of their
ideas, Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Wilcox said:
“Innovation is the backbone of our economy, and it’s encouraging
that many businesses know the importance of protecting and
exploiting their ideas. However it’s clear that many smaller
companies aren’t aware of how to make the most of their
intellectual property.
“As part of the Government’s commitment to helping small
businesses, the Intellectual Property Office offers a range of
information and services to help companies identify and benefit
from their inventions and designs.”
Services offered by the Intellectual Property Office include:
A free online IP Healthcheck tool to help businesses understand
different areas of IP.Workshops delivered throughout the UK to
teach business advisors about IP.An IP Master Class course in
partnership with Coventry University and the British Library.Free
regional IP awareness seminars for businesses.Free guidance
documents on a range of IP topics, from outlining the basics to
country-specific IP guides for UK exporters to Brazil, China,
Korea, India and Vietnam to help British companies in the major
markets around the world.
This is the second awareness survey commissioned by the IPO. It
involved 20,000 businesses of all sizes and from all industry
sectors across the UK, and aimed to find out their level of
awareness about intellectual property including trade marks,
patents, copyright and designs.
Notes to editors
The Intellectual Property Office is within the Department for
Business, Innovation, and Skills, and is responsible for the
national framework of Intellectual Property rights, comprising
patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.Its role is to help
manage an IP system that encourages innovation and creativity,
balances the needs of consumers and users, promotes strong and
competitive markets and is the foundation of the knowledge based
economy.It operates in a national and an international environment
and its work is governed by national and international law,
including various international treaties relating to IP to which
the United Kingdom is a party.The ‘Intellectual Property Awareness
Survey of Business’ can be found at
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipsurvey2010.pdf.More information about the
services provided to businesses by the IPO can be found at
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/whyuse/business.htm. BIS's online
newsroom contains the latest press notices, speeches, as well as
video and images for download. It also features an up to date list
of BIS press office contacts. See http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom
for more information.
Contacts:
BIS Press Office
NDS.BIS@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Sally Catmull
Phone: 020 7215 6577
sally.catmull@bis.gsi.gov.uk