Ensuring Online Signature Legality for Assignment of Intellectual Property in United Kingdom

How to eSign a document: online signature legality for Assignment of intellectual property in United Kingdom

Morning everybody! Welcome to today's session,  'Introduction to Intellectual Property'.   My name is Jeremy O'Hare and I'm an information  expert here at the British Library Business and IP   Centre and welcome to our Start-Up Day Online  2021! Welcome to this breakout room where,   for the next well, about 50 minutes or so. We're  going to be focusing on Intellectual Property so,   I'm going to go through a presentation here,  which is going to give you the overview of all   the different types of Intellectual Property,  everything you'd want to know from an overview   point of view around this subject so, maybe  that'll be a spur to look a bit further into a   bit deeper into some of the different topics that  we're looking at but, most importantly I just want   to re-emphasize over through this presentation  just how important intellectual property, or IP,   as I refer to, it is, for you and your business,  especially at a start-up stage for today. So,   just a quick disclaimer before I go on and I'll  be presenting at a pretty quick gallop all the   way through so, hold on to your hat, it's going  to be quite fast. There's going to be a lot of   things thrown at you in this short period of time  but just bear with me with that and at the end,   we'll get hopefully five minutes just to open  up to some Q & A. So feel free to put some   some questions in the Q& A box, perhaps towards  the end of the session and I can try and get to   maybe a couple of those at the end but our time is  really limited but just a quick disclaimer here,   this presentation is not legal advice and  there are times where you would want to consult   a lawyer trademark attorney, whatever, patent  attorney. I'll flag that up as I go through   and I'll find some other services that we can  help you with around the legal side of things. So what is Intellectual Property? At its  most simplest, Intellectual Property, IP,   is a protection for any kind of creativity and  innovation. So, we have a body of law, we have   Acts of Parliament which are there to protect  innovation and allowing you to commercialise   various different things that you create,  products, new inventions and, and trademarks   and so forth, will go into all of these in detail  but the law is there to allow you to commercialise   this and also, to prevent others from using your  creations without your, without your permission,   which is a really important concept, just to  kind of put out there from a very early stage.   So Intellectual Property is like an umbrella  term. It's a description which describes all of   these other what I like to call, 'members of the  IP family' and there's six different members that   we have and we're going to be going through all  of these different forms of IP in the next, well   50 minutes. So, we'll be looking at patents and  there's something very specific to how something   works or the process of making it. We're looking  at trademarks, you may have heard of those.   These are words or logos to indicate the origin  of products or services, We're going to be looking   at registered design, what that actually is and  it protects the look of a product or object and   copyright, which I'm sure you've all heard of and  there are specific things that you create where   copyright actually applies, could potentially  apply to you. Artistic works, paintings,   books, films and music but also things like  software. There's quite a list of other forms of   expression that copyright covers and then, we'll  be looking also at trade secrets and know-how   and these protects special knowledge that you  have: processes, techniques, practical practical   things that you know in your business. We'll  look at that in due course. So, as I go through   the six members of the family, you'll find a  pattern. Half of these members, if you will,   what we call registered rights and the other  half are unregistered rights. So these registered   rights being patents, trademarks and designs, that  means that you need to register for protection   and you register there with a government  body called the Intellectual Property Office.   Really important that you, you get onto  that website and have a look around,   even if you're just generally, generally  interested in IP. They have wonderful guides   around what you need to know about IP, so  I'd recommend just kind of digging around   and looking at their guides but nonetheless,  if you're going to register, say a trademark,   that's who you need to register it through. Now,  the other half of the IP family are unregistered   rights and that applies to copyright, trade  secrets and know-how, meaning you don't have   to register those to have protection. You just  need to be able to enforce them for yourself,   as you would with the registered rights but, it's  unregistered as a lot simpler to start off with.   So that's a distinction between the two that  we'll, we'll explore a bit more as we go through.   Just a quick point to make that if you're  a start-up, I would encourage you to,   to set a bit of a budget for your IPs. There  are some costs involved with filing but also,   when it comes to growing and scaling your  business, you may need to at times defend your IP.   So, it's good to just put aside a little bit of  money where you can, in the same way that you   have some money for your marketing budget, for  your operations. Put some aside for for IP spend   and that will, that will see you well if there  are situations in the future where you need to   kind of defend your IP because, as we'll find  there are no I, there is no IP police. You   have to do that yourself unfortunately but  there are ways around how you can do that.   So, I've got an illustration here to kind of  just kind of ground what I'm talking about,   these members of the family into a company and  into actual products that we, that we use! So,   the Coca-Cola Company been around for well over  100 years, not surprising they have all of the   the six forms of IP well and truly covered  and protected. So, we have the the logo here,   very famous logo. That is a registered  trademark, one of the earliest trademarks   that we have, well over 100 years, still on force.  The company, of course, owns it and they can   put that on merchandise. They can, they have  complete ownership over the lettering and also   the logo design which, is probably, I think, one  of the most valuable trademarks any company could   own so there you go. Also, there is a registered  design on the bottle shape here. So this is a   classic design again, about 100 years old,  about 1916 I think this was registered and   it has value in the sense that it, if you're  to take away the logo and just see the bottle,   you'd recognize that as a bottle, bottle of  coke, such as the the value of the design so,   we'll explore why design could be could  be useful to use as, as we go through.   Interestingly there is actually a patent on  the ring pull opener of the can so, all cans   have this these days but hard to imagine but at  one point in time, this was a new invention and   in the late 1960s, an inventor came up with this  design and I'm sure Coca-Cola would have paid   a license to use that little bit of technology  to seal the can and to open it with a ring pool,   would have been a new thing and they would  have paid a license to the, to the inventor to   to use that Intellectual Property in their  products. So, we have here on the right a,   a nice bit of old advertising from the  early 20th Century. This belongs to   the copyright of the company. The company owns  these images and all the marketing that they've   done over the years, you know, the music,  they've created the adverts the the imagery.   You know, the Father Christmas imagery is a  famous one that comes out around about this   time of year. They can reuse the stuff, they  own it. They can reuse it for merchandising,   maybe for anniversaries, occasions, whatever  marketing purposes, it belongs to them. It's   a powerful and a very, very useful back  catalogue of assets that they can draw on   and down the bottom here, is 'Question Mark', you  may [want] have guessed. This, this is the famous   trade secret. What is the recipe for coke? We  don't really know, it is under lock and key.   It is actually in a museum safe in Atlanta,  Georgia where the headquarters of Coca-Cola are   in America. So, patents are, are there to protect  new inventions, how they work or how they're made   and so there are kind of key criteria around  what qualifies for a patent. So, it must be new,   it must be non-obvious and must have some sort of  useful application as well. So, a patent should   be better or cheaper or different to other  inventions that are out there. So patents are   granted by countries and regions so they, they  are territorial. So, if you're going to apply for   a patent, you need to think about which other  countries around the world you want to have your   patent and force and there's a really important  thing. So, you need to look at the broader market   around, what's the potential of the invention?  Are you just going to get protection for the UK   or are you going to apply for protection in other  countries around the world? Because they don't   last forever, a patent is a state-granted  monopoly for 20 years and then after that,   the patent becomes public domain. So, anybody can  essentially use it. So, when we think of lots of   everyday technologies like the zip, that was a  new patent new invention way back when in the   early 20th century. That patent expired, everybody  uses zips so, the manufacturer/maker and inventor   of that time only had that, that 20 year monopoly  to make the most of it. So, the fees are on the   surface here, look quite reasonable, perhaps  £320 plus extras. However, if you're going to   apply for a patent, we'd really recommend you  seek some legal professional help around that   because, complicated documents to write. You need  to get everything correct, you need to be able to   defend it because patents will be eventually  published. They'll be open to opposition and   you want your patent to last at the time that  it can. So, we do recommend professional help.   If you try and do it yourself, the success rate,  here are the stats from the IPO. There's only one   in 20 applicants actually get their patent granted  if you do it yourself so, the kind of numbers do   speak for themselves. However, that will increase  your costs so you'll be looking easy at £3-4,000,   to just to get the UK patent with legal advice  and those costs will escalate accumulatively as   you as you go across other regions around  the world. So something to bear in mind.   Another really important thing about  your invention is, that you must keep the   invention secret until your application  is made. So, don't share with anybody   because that can potentially invalidate your  application. If you have to talk to people like,   like prototype designers/manufacturers,  use a non-disclosure agreement or NDA.   There's a link there for those and um it's  a kind of a, it's a legal document you can,   you can use which, which kind of helps to, to  protect the the confidentiality of the invention.   Of course, the agreement is only as good as the  honourable side of the two parties and if anyone   breaks the agreement you have to prove it was  them that did...anyway, I won't get into the   technicalities of it but, it's the best form of  legal protection you have, if you need to divulge   your invention to anybody else and be wary of  invention promoters. They are people that will   say they can promote your invention, make a lot  of money. That's rarely the case, best to speak   to independent advisors like ourselves or lawyers  from the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.   They'll be able to advise for you as well. Now of  course, the thing about patents must be absolutely   new, never been done before, so you need to  evidence that this is actually completely new,   your invention, so that's why we say  that you should do, what we call a prior,   prior art or novelty search. So, you can, you  can look online to see if it's, say, it's an   invention. It could be used for a product. What  is out there? Look through specialist literature,   if it's technical invention and then of course,  also look at existing patents and you can do   that on our patent database, especially here  where there's over, you know, 60 million plus   patents you can access. It's quite a technical  thing to do, we can guide you around that through   our other webinars and workshops but, I'm just  flagging this up this is an important thing you   need to do to look for existing patents. So you  can kind of prove to yourself as best you can,   that this invention is actually new never been  done before and therefore you can look at going   for a patent. We'd also encourage you to do some  market research - commercial viability - around   the invention itself because, as you can see,  it's expensive to take a patent. You want to   make sure there's a commercial value to it at the  end of the process as well. Just a quick note on   international filings. There are, you can file  through[out] the World and Social Property   Organizations to, to cover other territories  that makes the process that much more efficient   and you'll be easy looking at £50 or 60,000  to get the equivalent of sort of worldwide   protection. So, you have to be careful about where  you where you select your patent protection with. Okay! So moving on to the next member of the  family - Trademarks and this is perhaps something   that we're a little more closer to home. When we  interact with trademarks, with brands every day of   the week, we're buying products with trademarks.  So the trademark is, is the the badge of ownership   is it were. It distinguishes you and your product  and service from anybody else. A trademark   can protect a name and a logo. Also  a slogan, a shape, even a particular   shade of color can be trademarked and a sound,  very rarely but, that is also possible to   trademark. There's like, particular advertising  jingles you can get a protection on that. Now, the   thing about trademarking, it is distinctive for  the goods or services which you apply to register   and of course, it has to be completely different  from any other rivals and the key point here is,   that it cannot give a false impression and  it cannot be allowed to create any confusion   in the marketplace. So, distinctiveness is  really key for your trademark. So, the trademark   is the sort of the, the, the registration  of of what the brand is. Now brand is a,   is a big topic. We don't have time to go into  all of that, it's kind of distinctive, to that,   but the trademark is sort of the legal registered  representation of the brand ...the font, the   colors, the style and the lettering and so forth.  Can I just say as well, a trademark is an asset.   like a patent. These are bits of property that  you own so as the company grows, as your business   grows, the value of your trademark should grow  with the company. So, it becomes an asset that   you can, you can sell! Or license out as and when  the business gets to the point of, what you want   to do with it, whether you want to sell or or  sell bits the company off, whatever you choose.   So, you can see a trend here, a trademark again  is territorial, like patents, so you register   in country or you can register through an  organisation like the European Trademark   Office and, and you can kind of get, through  the Madrid Protocol, you can get coverage   across a block of countries. Just again, it  kind of makes the process that much quicker   and a trademark is country-specific, of  course. It can be bought, sold or licensed.   As we'll see, that's very, very important with  trademarks and it can last in theory forever. So,   so long as your trademark is kept active, you can  register every 10 years, you get another 10 years   and it can, in theory, last forever; And the the  fees are, I would argue, relatively inexpensive   and actually, it's a bit cheaper than that. If  you do an online application for a trademark,   it's about £170 plus the extras, which include the  the classifications of, the areas of of industry   where you want to register your trademark,  we'll get into that in a moment. So, a lot   of questions, a common question is can you have  the same or similar trademark as someone else?   Yes you, you can, so long as they are in  completely different classifications. So,   there's this thing called the NICE Classification  System. You're gonna have to find out... about   that if you're going to file for a trademark  because, about 40 plus different numbers,   different categories you can file your trademark  in. Some will cover consulting, some will cover   manufacturing, some will cover service industry,  some will cover different types of products so,   so long as your trademark is distinctive  and from others in your classification,   you can potentially get that protected. So, the  example here being 'Swan'. Same name, you can't   have the same name as someone else but you look at  how different they are, there'll be no confusion   between Swan car rentals or electrical goods and  matches. You know, they're quite distinctive and   they they will all be in different classifications  there. So, just something to bear in mind   with with your trademark. There is something  called, 'I'm an unregistered trademark', right? We   have it here in the UK. Not all countries have it.  It's enforced in the U.S. and Australasia as well,   where you can pretty much start trading with your  your mac from, from the get go. You just put 'TM'   on your, you,r your brand, your logo and you have  an unregistered [trademark] right now. It's not   as strong and as enforceable as a registered  trademark, where you see the 'R' in a circle.   So really, registered is very where you want to  get to because, then you can much more easily   object to anybody misusing your trademark or  you can oppose other trademarks, which might   be similar to yours. So, a registered trademark  is the way to go but, if you want to start off,   get something going now, the 'TM' is well, will  do just for perhaps for short term. Yeah! So,   when it comes to legal disputes. the 'TM; is  nowhere near as as strong as the '(R)egistered'.   So, there are grounds for refusal of trademark,  in the, in the UK, just so that you know.   I'll go through the last three here: anything  blasphemous or obscene, causing offence,   that kind of makes sense, that it wouldn't be  accepted. Names of pictures of famous people or   characters whether it's a copyright infringement  potentially, so that wouldn't be allowed   and international symbols, obvious things, Olympic  rings, we couldn't kind of claim usage of those.   Now, the one at the top here, wording that  describes a product or service. tends to be   where most people get caught out with their  applications. So, your trademark cannot be too   descriptive of what the the trademark is. So by  that I mean, if I'm trying to file a trademark.   'Tasty Cakes' in the food manufacturing  classification, so I try and trade my tasty cakes.   I would guarantee that, that would be rejected  on the grounds that it would be too descriptive.   So, if I change that and put another  word, so like 'Jerry's Tasty Cakes',   that then, that trademark then has a more of a  distinctiveness to it. There's a better chance   that, that would be accepted and passed by the  Trademark Examiner. So, anything that is too   descriptive is unlikely, highly unlikely to  be to be passed as a trademark and anything   for those other reasons or, anything that  causes confusion in the minds of consumers,   can also be rejected. There is an exemption  on that. So, you'll find a lot of URLs like   lastminute.com' last ... is very descriptive.  They have acquired a trademark because they've   gotten market share and, and when people know that  the, the name, there is a dispensation where, they   can potentially be trademarked in retrospect. So,  that's that's an exemption. That's...exceptional,   you have to be like a seriously big player to  kind of have that. Just in case you're wondering,   a lot of people ask that question. So, searching  for trademarks is like a really important thing.   Like a priority search for patents you need to  make sure, before you file, that your trademark   is not used by anybody else. You also do some  general internet searches to make sure there's   no unregistered rights potentially out there.  That's the database you can use. If you do,   trademark search 'IPO'. Type that in.  It'll bring you up to the online register,   you can you can look through that. Do some keyword  searches for your name. You can also search by,   by images and design shapes as well. So you can  kind of make sure that you, as best as you can,   you're you're, you're reassured that your  trademark is is hopefully going to be   accepted! So here's examples, here some very  iconic trademarks. The point I want to make here   is that the, the visual element trademarks can  be just as as powerful as the word element. So,   the Bacardi example here is interesting.  They have a trademark for the name. It's   what we call a wordmark, B-A-C-A-R-D-I so, there's  that sequence of lettering, Bacardi is protected   but, they also have a trademark for the bat  logo which, you could say is just as strong,   aspect of the brand as the name. You know, if  you're in a bar and it's dark, you see the bat   logo there. That's a very, very effective  means of communicating a brand through,   through the iconography. So, the point here is,  that you can file a trademark. Both the name, the   lettering and also an image as well...and or, or  no name and just the image! So, the Superman brand   here...is a fantastic, very powerful image and  so, you've you own that trademark, is it Marvel?   I'm not sure. One of the larger studios owns the  mark. That that's, that's almost a license to   print money because they can, they can license out  that image, to manu[facture] the merchandiser, is,   you know, makers of stuff. They pay a fee to,  to use that, to use the image and it's a very,   very powerful trademark. So...yeah! Words and  images something to think about with your,   with your design if you're gonna,  if you're gonna go down that road. Speaking of design, moving on now to the third  member of the IP family, we have registered   designs. I'm not going to spend a lot of time  on this but, this is more for those of you that   are designers that want to protect, either a  packaging or a product, which is designed. It's   a three-dimensional form but design can also cover  two dimensions so, wallpaper design and so forth.   Generally anything that is, can be manufactured  on, on a large scale or even on a small scale,   can be protected by registered design.  Whereas a one-off piece, say a work of art   will be protected by copyright. That's the  distinction we can have between them. So,   there's an industrial application to registered  design. So, as we've seen the countries,   specific and and regions, like trademark  cited patents, that is property. You can buy,   sell your design. They don't last forever,  there's a, there's a point cutoff point there,   in terms of the timing, around trademarks and the  application is relatively kind of straightforward.   Online relatively inexpensive, £60 and then you  can file a series of designs for, you know, for a   reasonable cost to cover different aspects of  whatever design it is. You can look on a database   here for existing trademark designs, we also  have other webinars that can help you with that.   So, here's some example designs. One in  particular here, the the tuning head of the Fender   Stratocaster as 'registered design' because, the  look of that is so iconic for that guitar maker.   The sunglasses here, Ray Bans. The monkey  mascot, which is for ITV so if you're going to   sell monkey toys, you want to own the shape  of that, to make sure no one else manufactures   and makes monkeys and you know, rightly belongs  to the TV channel. So, this is where design is   very useful. Interestingly, not quite so used in  the Fashion Industry. You think it would be but,   because fashion is such a fast moving market.  seasons change and looks change and you,   you know you, you can get inspiration from one  design and create a new design and so forth. so   fashion design is not such a big thing. Pieces  like jewellery or, or iconic footwear, let's say,   that might be protected by design  but certainly areas, as I said,   product packaging or toys, is a big area  where design is is useful for. So, the Star   Wars storm trooper helmet is a 'registered  design' because it's such a strong, iconic,   visual thing. It makes sense that Lucasfilms  would, would register that as a design. So,   anyway, you you get the picture there, around  where design could, could be useful for you. Now, copyright! Let's move on to this.  This is a really fascinating area   and by the way, you know, as you saw with  the Coca-Cola example right at the beginning,   you can have multiple forms of Intellectual  Property. You can have a portfolio, even in   your small business. So, it's most likely that you  might have, you might have a trademark. You should   have a trademark because it's going to be your,  your business name. It's going to be your brand   and then there'll be elements of copyright  that you create, your web pages for example   and it might be that there's something you're  making which, you can get a design coverage   for. So, do do see this is a menu of options,  depending on whatever the creation that you have   in your business. One of these forms of IP may  well potentially apply to, to you as well. So,   copyright here, protects works of a, paintings,  books, films and music and also other things like   software because, software is considered like,  a written text, a string of letters and numbers.   If we're seen with other forms of IP, you can  buy, sell and a big thing around copyright is,   licensing it out to other people. So, it lasts,  it's different to other forms of IP and that,   there is a time, okay well...similar to patents  and designs. There's, there's a time limit to it   but the differences in the years involved so,  copyright lasts quite a long period of time,   the last 70 years after the the  death of the creator. 70 years. 7-0.   So, copyright can be passed on, it can  be in Estates. People, families' can own   copyrights of their deceased relatives. The  Tolkien Estate owns the copyright for his   work. The Picasso Estate manages his copyright  because ,they have died within, you know 70 years.   George Orwell, his works are now out of  copyright because he died just over 70 years   ago. This is the year that his work becomes  available to reprint, reproduce, do films,   theater whatever. So, we mentioned copyright is  an automatic right. As soon as you create it,   it's yours. You don't have to register it, it's  free and instant. So here's, here's the thing!   You need to be able to prove that you own the  copyright to it so, what we recommend you do,   is that you put a 'c' in a circle. I'm sure  you, you know this sign very well. Put your   company name or your personal name on the work and  you need to record the date of creation in some   way and there are, there are methods to do this.  One is a good old-fashioned post your manuscript   to yourself and post registered post and a  sealed envelope. So, you make sure that no one,   you know, that proves the date, make  sure no one can open the envelope   and that's sort of like a proof of date. I  mean, it's, I've never known it to be tested   in a court of law. A better option might be to  file with an IP attorney. They have archives,   they would do that. There are ways now  where you can timestamp digital files   so, there's a service called WIPOPROOF, from the  World Digital Property Organisation - WIPOPROOF.   You can, you know, buy a tag. You know, 18  Swiss Francs or whatever. So, you can timestamp   your digital file. Just because software can be  easily manipulated with timestamps and things, so   just to kind of be aware. The point here  is, that it needs to be admissible as proof,   that you created what you did. So, it's all about  getting to your creation first and being able to   evidence that for other people. So, that's super-  important. Otherwise, it's an automatic right and   there are treaties across the World around  copyright so, other territories respect each   other's copyright rights. So, it's managed  by treaties and just a quick screen here to,   to expand what copyright covers. All of these  things but films, video, tv, radio, broadcast,   engineering things, technical, architectural  plans. We mentioned promotional literature,   advertising and so and there's a related right  called database rights for copyright as well.   So, when it comes to ownership, if you're  the owner of the work you actually get a   lot of rights, as a copyright owner. You  just have to be able to enforce them! So,   and this is an important thing, the way the,  the owner can enforce and monetize their rights   are through licensing. That's the bridge to, to  making money, so you can license your your novel   out to to, to a Hollywood Producer or  you or you can sell your rights and and   you get something back for that. You can, you can  sell your, the rights to your novel to a publisher   and they'll take over from there and manage  your work. So, you you have the ultimate say.   So, you have to make sure that you, whatever deal  you do with your work is appropriate to you to   your needs. I just want to make a very important  point here, around freelancers and creators.   So, this is often a pitfall many people fall into  and this is good news if you're a freelancer! Be   aware, you know if you're a freelance designer,  photographer whatever, you own your IP. So, just   because someone pays you to do work for you, let's  say, take to take pictures of, of products for   someone's website or to design a logo, you own the  IP. So, the flip side is if you're commissioning   someone to do your logo, they will only IP so you  need to ask them to assign the IP to you. Likewise   with photographs and other things. So, if you're  a freelancer you have a lot of rights. So, so   it's up to you to manage that. So, make sure you  have a contract and call it an assignment of IP.   if you're an employee, the employer, full-time  or part-time, the employer owns the IP. So, this   slide deck that you have today, I'm an employee of  the British Library, the British Library owns the   copyright. Quite rightly too as well. So, there  you have it. That's the, that's a situation in   law. So people can often get, assume that they own  something because they pay someone to do to do the   design for them. That's that's not the case. So,  there are exceptions to copyright. People always   ask this. What can I use of other people's? So my  advice to you would be, best to assume you can't   until you can prove otherwise and the exceptions  in the Copyright Designs and Patents Act,   as such, they are listed here. Very specific  things, Copying for non-commercial research or   private study, quoting for critique or  review so, you know, if I was to quote   someone in this presentation, absolutely fine. The  world is an information world. We need to quote   other people for, you know, for knowledge to be  shared, that exemption is allowed for but, where   you'll start to use substantive amounts and there  is no definition of what that is, by the way.   Where you start to step on people's toes around,  around usage, without either crediting them or   getting their permissions and to use then, you're  potentially in in danger of infringement. So, best   to err on the side of caution. Get permissions  from publishers/owners. You can, there are ways,   websites where you can find out the owner of  obvious-, photographic works, literary works   and so forth. Always err on the side of caution.  Especially around images. Actually use .. because   everything's so easy on the Internet to get, you  cannot assume that the image is out of copyright.   Most likely that it is not. Other reasons,  exemptions here. Visually impaired   uses time-shifting for for personal purposes.  This does move me onto creative commons because,   this is an interesting area of copyright where,  you can use images under or, software under on   the credit commons licenses. The point still  stands though, the credit commons is still   a license. The owner of the photograph is still  allowing you to use that work. It may be that   the license is very, very generous and it quite  often is. You can use it without having to pay a   royalty or a fee. You can, you can adapt it for  commercial purposes but the point still stands.   A creative commons license is still a  license i.e. The owner, the photographer   is pretty much volunteering all of their rights  over the work for anybody to use but, you need   to be careful because there are different types of  credit commons. There are different variations. It   might be that you need to for example, credit  the work of the photographer, for example.   So, that's very important, the principal licensing  still stands. Open sources is a form of software   licensing whereby you need to make the source  code freely available to everybody. So, copyright   again, to come back to that point. If you're  the owner of it, it gives you a lot of rights,   the rights over copying, adapting. So, you  know anyone that wants to adapt my novel for   a screenplay, they have to get permissions. anyone  that translates my novel, they're still you know,   there's still a a, an ownership issue there.  I need to have some form of acknowledgement   or permissions and maybe even royalty, if my  work is translated. Publishing rights, there's   a similar right to there. If you're publishing  something, the way that the book is laid out,   there's a separate right. Just so that you  know. Where a work is rented or performed,   the the creator should get some sort of royalty  and fee for that and there are organisations   that manage the rights of of copyright holders,  particularly in the Music Industry. They're there   to collect. They're called collecting,  collect management organisations, CMOS!   They will manage that side of things on behalf of  the rights holder. Broadcasting rights and things,   as well; And if you're a performer, you  know, if you're a voiceover artist, you   you have some sort of rights and law around.  You know, you've been able to be recognised as,   as such and being able to pay for your work.  There are producers-rights in the Music Industry.   So, these things are all kind of part  and parcel of copyright. I should add,   there are other things called, ' moral rights'  so that means that if you're the creator,   you have a reputational right over your work.  So, you know where your work has been misused   or you've been misrepresented in some ways.  You, you have that back-up in the law to object   and we see that a lot, actually. This happens  every time there's a big political campaign.   Some politician will use like a, like a, you  know. a famous tune you know from an artist or   or a band and the the artist or band will object  to, say "I don't want to be associated with this   political campaign". You know because, my  moral rights are infringed essentially. So,   that happens a lot and so that that, that  provider was there in copyright law. There's   other related rights, sort of database rights.  I-I won't get into the weeds with that, it's   quite a complicated right but, that effectively  protects the way information is managed. How it's   and and also using other information, you have  to be careful around rights around other other   people's data and so forth. Complicated area,  don't have time to go into that but, just just so   that you know, that's an area to maybe explore if  you need to. So, that's copyright in a nutshell. I'm keeping an eye on the time. We're doing  pretty well. So, I'm just coming to the last two   of our members of the family here. 'Know how' and  Trade Secrets. Now, a trade secret is that kind of   secret recipe stuff and so, let's let's imagine  that, you know, you have a, a recipe passed on   from your great great grandmother for the, the  most delectable, perfect chocolate brownie you   could imagine and that's kind of just passed  down through the generations and you know, so   that that's a, that's a trade secret! You wouldn't  be able to get a patent on on a recipe because,   there's a very high bar around novelty to get a  patent and it's more likely that you would get a   protection through trade secrets. The brewing  industry, you know, is full of trade secrets   and it's a very easy right to manage. You  just have to keep your recipe safe and make   sure you manage that within the company. You  only have certain numbers of people and if you   have to disclose into the manufacture, you have  a confidentiality agreements and firmly in place;   And that's where you might need to get the help  of a lawyer, to help you draft that very kind   of tightly, invert very specifically. So, as long  as you can keep the secret, it's fine. If someone   else has the same secret at the same time, well he  can't do much about that, is just an unfortunate   coincidence. So, know-how as we mentioned, with  the core example, are the things that you you   know in your business that give you a competitive  advantage. It might be a process, it might be a   network, let's say and I would encourage you to  think. If you're starting out, what what are the   things that you know? Are you really good on on  SEO optimisation? Are you really good at sales?   Whatever you're good at, see that as know-how  because, that's that will be the thing that might   give you a bit of an advantage over other people  in this, in the same starting up, in the same area   but, don't think of it too selfishly, you can  also exchange your know-how. So, in the network,   if you know how to do something really well and  someone else has got it, got maybe they've got a   really good knack at marketing and, you've  got to design websites. If you kind of,   the more networking you can do, you can kind of  help each other and with those, that skillset. So   trade on your skills, trade on your experience.  If, you know, if you're in retail. Really,   you know you can go into retail with a particular  products, that experience is something that,   you, is very valuable. So, to think about what  you've got in your, in terms of your know-how   and as time goes on, your business will acquire  that and will give you really, in a way,   a time advantage over anybody else trying to  get to market as well. That's another thing,   too. So, it's kind of a balance that you have  in your business. So, I just want to kind of,   just kind of conclude really there, with sources  of information. I mean and just a note, I realised   it's Start-Up Day and, and the topic today really  is sustainability so, so all, so whatever you have   in terms of your environmental focus for your  business, it may well, may well be that you have   a technical innovation and that's where a patent  might might easily apply. So, there's lots of   industries at the moment which are innovating  in all sorts of new and interesting ways   to bring down. You know, carbon emissions, lots  of interesting technologies. Around that, I was   reading the other day that the Concrete Industry  is a massive creator of of CO22 and there are new   sort of, biological agents in the manufacture of  concrete which, can kind of help reduce emissions.   There's a new technology coming on, streams.  There'll be patents most likely around that   side of things. I read as well the, the Aviation  Industry. Electric engines, I-I wouldn't have   imagined this but, that's that's really seriously  been looked at. So, in the next decade, decade or   so, we may start to see some some early engines  which use battery and therefore, should be cleaner   in terms of its emissions. That's been seriously  looked at. So, there'll be new patents off the   back of that. There won't be long- haul flights  but they'll be sort of under 800 kilometers short   medium hall which, is actually half the airline  industry is, short to medium haul flight. So,   they got two examples there, of where there will  be technical innovations and where or something   like patents would be involved but whatever your  business, you've got a beautiful green brand. You   want to have that trademark with it, with a logo.  If you've got some really environmentally-friendly   products and you want to get that maybe the shape  of it protected through a design and likewise,   whatever content you're creating, words for  your website, the images you're creating,   the overall appeal, the impression you're creating  can potentially be protected by copyright as well;   And don't forget your know-how and that might be  the thing that kind of keeps you going. That's our   email, bpc@bl.uk. If there's any kind of questions  or queries that you have off the back of today,   send us an email at that email, bipc@bl.uk  and we'll get to your query; And there's,   there's a whole bunch of services. We  do run IP one-to-ones where, we can,   we try and upload those every every week or so.  t=They're very popular, they're called IP Clinics.   Just to flag up, that there is a huge range of  commercial information that you can access here   at the British Library so, if you want to  do the commercial research on your patents,   you could use us. Lots of market reports, over  five million pounds plus of, of market data. Huge   valuable resource that you can access, you can do  that by obtaining what we call, a reader pass. So,   you need to bring along proof of your address and  signature like, like a bill/bank statement in the   last three months through the post and that will  be your, your proof and your signature, of course.   Driver's license is really good because, you've  got that proof already with the address and then,   you can get a reader pass and you can come up and  use our resources. Speak to one of the staff here   on the Enquiry Desk, we can make this a little  more personal. We can find out more about you   and your background and what it is that you want  to want to do from the from your research and this   will be very interesting information that you can  use for your business plan or, just basically for   your strategy. You know, the more, you know  about, you know the market you're going into,   the opportunities the better and likewise, we  can help you on doing the trademark searches,   on the patent search in particular, we can help  you on that. We do have other webinars which run,   you know, over over the month, over the few  months on, on designs and on copyright, I run   that webinar on copyright, on patent searching  so, you can dip into those and get some really   more in-depth information on from, from those  webinars and likewise, there's the one-to-ones.   Just drop us an email, get us- get in contact  with us and we'll help you as best we can   and I think, the thing with IP is it can  be really, it can be a bit overwhelming   and a bit confusing. So my hope for you and  this time and a time that we've had together,   my hope is that you, you have a much much clearer  understanding of where you sit with IP and what   your what the potential possibilities are; That  you have this menu of options, you got a some   sense of where the costs may be and where there  are actually no costs; Where you need to enforce   things and where you can look at really seriously  commercialising your content because, at the end   of the day, Intellectual Property is an asset that  you own in the business. I can't emphasize that   that much. It is a property. you own it in the  same way that you you sell a house, you rent   it out. You know, you buy it even. So, your IP  is property, is an asset and it's going to be   potentially an integral part of your business  and part of your revenue and part of your growth   and if you choose to sell, no matter what you  do with your business, getting it right early   on. It's Start-Up Day so getting it right when  you start up is, super important for for your   your future prospects with, with the business  as well. So, my name is Jeremy O'Hare. Again,   I'm an information expert in Intellectual Property  here at the British Library. Absolute pleasure   to have time with you today. I'm sorry, unable  to see you or to hear from you. I can only trust   and assume that you've, you can hear me and that  you've gotten some value from today's presentation   and feel free to get back on the the, the email  address just there, bipc@bl.uk and we can follow   up with you from there! I will stop share and  I'll now hand it back to our team at Unique Media,   for the next presentation coming up, I believe  in about 5-10 minutes. Over to you guys!