Intellectual Property Right (IPR) allows you
to have ownership of the inventions you create. As with ownership
of physical property, IP enables you to use and benefit from
the outcomes of your research. Other parties cannot commercially
exploit your IP without your permission.
IP in the university setting can be defined as the results
of research activities. The most common types of IP rights
arising from research are Patents,
Copyright, Database Rights
and Confidential Know-How.
IP also covers designs, trade marks, performer’s rights,
geographical indications and other such creations. More than
one type of IP can apply to one creation e.g. software can
sometimes be protected by patents and copyright.
Patent
Patents protect new inventions and give a monopoly right
to the inventor(s). However, the right is restricted by the
details and claims within the patent document, which will
include how the invention works, what it does, how it does
it and how it is made.
Products, technology and methods can all be patented, but
ideas and theories by themselves cannot. For an invention
to be patent protected it must be novel, inventive and have
an enabled practical application.
For example, there are theories about how one could create
a room-temperature superconductor, but no-one can claim a
patent until they have put these into practice with an actual
formulation for a material that is superconductive at room-temperatures.
Novelty
The requirement for novelty means that the invention or key
elements of it should not have been publicly available anywhere
in the world prior to the date of the patent application.
Please contact us before
you publish or present.
Inventiveness (= non-obviousness)
A key feature of a patent is the demonstration that the results
described are not obvious.
An enabled practical application
The invention must be capable of being used or made commercially
or industrially. There should be one example of how it can
be used in practice, including a description or method which
can be followed by a knowledgeable person.
The Patenting Process
Copyright
Copyright protects the author against unauthorised copying
of original literary works and dramatic, musical and artistic
works. It also protects against any unauthorised copying of
layouts, recordings and broadcasts of a work.
Under copyright computer programs are protected as a literary
work. However, some software can also be patented.
Copyright is an automatic legal right, no registration is
needed; it exists as soon as your work is fixed in some way
such as in writing or on film.
The author is usually the owner of copyright unless the work
is produced as part of employment. In most cases, Copyright
resides with the author, unless otherwise agreed.
Copyright does not protect an invention embodied in your
publication.
Confidential Know-How
Confidential know-how typically covers trade secrets, methods,
processes and skills, which the inventor does not publish.
It may be in the form of a unique biological material, for
example a monoclonal antibody cell line, or a strain of microorganism.
It can also be very valuable, for example, the Coca-Cola®
recipe or clinical drug trials data.
There is no formal registration of this right but there
is also no formal protection. Legal protection depends on
controlling access to the information through confidentiality
or non-disclosure agreements. Innovations can organise for
non-disclosure agreements to be drafted and signed by interested
parties – please contact us at the earliest opportunity
so we can arrange this, and reserve the opportunity to file
a patent.
IP Overview
Intellectual
Property Right |
What does it include? |
Do you have to apply? |
Maximum duration |
Patent |
Inventions which are novel,
inventive and have a practical application |
Yes |
20 years |
Copyright |
Literary, dramatic, musical,
artistic works, and software |
No |
70 years after death of author |
Confidential Know-how |
Unpublished confidential
information - trade secrets, methods, processes and
skills |
No |
Unlimited |
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