Coffee Talk at the Hub - Intellectual Property

Protecting your most valuable business asset...

In this session with intellectual property lawyer Kate Duckworth, she’ll cover the basics of what businesses need to know to maximise the value of their intellectual property including:

- What is IP?
- What is a trademark, patent, copyright?
- How to protect your innovations
- Developing an IP strategy
- Case studies highlighting pitfalls and positives

If you’re a small business owner and think that your most valuable business asset is physical, for example your inventory, building, tools of trade, or maybe even your vehicle, think again. Without a doubt your most valuable business asset will be an intangible – your business name, designs, patents copyrights and trade marks, customer lists and information, service manuals, trade secrets and other know-how that’s been developed for the business along the way.

Most people know its good business practice to protect physical assets; that’s why we install locks and burglar alarms and take out insurance. But what can be done for intellectual property? How do you identify what intellectual property you have, let alone work out the best way to protect it? And what happens if someone steals or uses your IP without permission or without paying for it?