You've Thought of a Great Idea...What Should You do Next?

Clients frequently contact us because they have had a great idea, or come up with a great concept, and want to know how they can protect it.

We've put together this quick checklist of things to consider for anyone in this position:

1. It's really important to note at the outset that, under UK law, you cannot protect a mere idea - by obtaining an intellectual right right - by any means. You can protect the tangibles arising out of your idea - for example design drawings and the finished product - but there is no protection at all for the idea itself.
2. If you have an idea, and you want to discuss it with somebody (for example to discuss the possibility of manufacturing a product) then you will need to make sure you have a confidentiality agreement in place. See our brief guide to confidentiality .
3. There are different sorts of intellectual property rights (IPR). As a first step, you should establish which IPR can be used to protect your ideas - see our post intellectual property: IMPACT guide to the essentials. It could be that things you have done prevent you from getting some forms of protection. For example if you have already commercially marketed your invention that might stop you from getting a patent.
4. You should also make sure that you do in fact own the IPR in the invention. See our post "the case of the missing assets" for a brief outline of this issue.
5. If you are also thinking about setting up a company, you should read our posts "starting a business" and "i've formed a company to protect the name".
6. A lot of generic products and services establish themselves in the market through clever branding. If branding is important to your new business idea, take a look at these for starters: our brand creation top tips; how to filter out bad brands for free; and our posts "mercury music prize: lessons in branding", "branding problems r us" and "descriptiveness v distinctiveness". Once you've come up with your brand, you may want to register it as a trade mark. Our posts on trade mark registraton: the benefits; how do i check what class a product or service falls into?; seeing red (or green or blue or...); and registering packaging shape as a trade mark? contain useful information.
7. If you do think you might be able to get a patent, take a look at our guide to free patent searching tools and our post "top ten reasons inventors fail" before you obtain legal advice. These posts are designed to address some of the most frequently asked questions we get from clients interested in patent protection.
8. Always remember, once you have established your rights, that there are still issues you will need to take into account and keep on top of on an ongoing basis. See for example our post "just because it's registered".
9. Finally, if the finished product or service will be delivered online, see our guide: Selling to consumers online: IMPACT guide to the essentials.

If you need further help, feel free to contact the IP & IT law team at Freeth Cartwright.