Intellectual Property insights: A guide to IP Audits

Every business will have some form of intellectual property (IP), and not always the IP that you think you have or want to have. This blog post will briefly describe the various forms of IP that you have, how you might go about identifying those rights with an IP Audit, what funding is available to help pay for the Audit, and how we at Birkett Long can help.

What IP rights might I have?

Companies working in technology might want to protect the inventions they create with an IP right called a patent. There are plenty of other rights that might apply to these companies and, indeed, to any company which does not work with technology. For example, every company may have a brand name which can be protected with a registered trade mark or content on their website and training materials which are protectable with copyright.

An IP audit should not only uncover the IP rights that your business currently has but also identify any IP rights that you ought to have. It can also provide recommendations to ensure that the potential of any IP rights is maximised in the context of your company’s business plan.

Maybe trade marks haven’t been protected; maybe there is no plan in place for identifying innovations which can be patented, or maybe employment contracts do not contain suitable IP clauses. Maybe photographs on your website have not been paid for, or the photographer still owns the rights.

All of this can be addressed with an IP Audit.

The IP Audit procedure

In the first instance, we will aim to find out as much as we can about your company, including the commercial sectors in which you operate, your business plan and the features of your company that are important and unique with respect to your competition. This information is gathered in many different ways and differs for different clients, but can involve site visits, reviews of products, manuals and marketing material, reviews of license agreements, searches of electronic databases such as patent and trade mark registries, or competitor analysis.

Potential IP related threats

The audit process could include searches to identify any third party IP rights which might present an impediment to your ongoing and/or proposed commercial activities. Searches could reveal the ownership of any identified IP rights, and if there are ownership issues, the IP Audit could provide recommendations to address them.

Ongoing and/or potential infringements of your IP rights could also be considered, and an assessment of strategy to enforce the IP rights.

What recommendations might result from an IP Audit?

After completion of an IP Audit, specific recommendations to improve your position could be provided.

For example, the IP Audit may advise on your use of non-disclosure agreements to make sure that confidential material is kept confidential. It may also advise on IP-related aspects of employment contracts, including internal contracts and those when engaging external contractors, to ensure that the company will not miss out on new IP that is created or commissioned.

Significantly, new company procedures could be proposed which will ensure that maximum benefit can be obtained from your IP.

How do you get an IP Audit, and what do they cost?

Due to the wide-ranging nature of IP rights, most businesses can benefit from an IP Audit. If you are in doubt as to the benefits of conducting an Audit for your own business, please contact us for further information. We can also discuss the type of Audit you require and tailor it to your specific requirements.

The cost of an IP Audit will depend on the size and type of the company in question and upon the required depth and purpose of the Audit. For UK SMEs (less than 250 employees) who need to control costs, we can offer a fixed fee IP Audit for £3000, including VAT. For that price, we could produce a report that assesses existing rights as identified above, including our recommendations for maximising the value of your IP. This could also include a face-to-face meeting afterwards to discuss the report and explore recommendations.

What funding is available?

It may be possible to obtain funding via Innovate UK to help pay for an IP audit. If your company qualifies through this programme, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) will heavily subsidise the Audit cost by paying £2500 towards the £3000 cost.

We can advise and put you in contact with these providers in order to support your company.

Birkett Long have patent attorneys, trade mark attorneys and commercial solicitors who are experts at understanding your business and Intellectual Property needs. We can undertake an IP Audit and provide you with expert bespoke advice. Please get in touch to discuss the next steps.