There are four main kinds of intellectual property which can be protected:
- inventions such as new products and processes
- decorative designs and designs for the appearance or shape of a product
- names and symbols for your product or service
- original written publications, recordings and other material such as works of art or images.
In some cases, the protection is automatic - for example, new text and images are automatically covered by copyright. Other forms of protection - such as patents for inventions - require you to complete an application process (and pay fees).
Another type of intellectual property is 'database right' in a database. Nationals and residents of EU member states (including businesses with a registered office or principal place of business in the EU) who own database rights can stop someone extracting or reusing any substantial part of their database, provided they have made a substantial investment (whether financial, human or technical) in obtaining, verifying or presenting the data in it.
A database is a collection of material arranged so each item is individually accessible, whether on paper or in electronic form. It includes customer lists, directories, encyclopaedias and card index systems.
Differentiate between ownership of database rights and ownership of the contents of the database. For example, if the contents of your database are someone else's copyright, you need their permission to include them.
You do not have to register your database rights. They apply automatically. Database rights last 15 years from either the date of recording the database or the date of publishing it.
