How to protect my IP
<p>I'm a developer looking to create a startup. However, it's a very unique idea and something I want to protect not only as a "product idea" but also the business brand too.</p>

<p>I'm guessing I would require a patent and a trademark to do both of the above? Could someone confirm this and possibly shine light on some of my options?</p>

<p>E.g. how they work, are they international, and such. I'm in the UK but want to protect it globally if possible.</p>

<h2>Ideas</h2>

<p>Ideas are <strong>not</strong> intellectual property and can't be protected.</p>

<h2>Copyright</h2>

<p>Exists automatically when an artistic or literary work is fixed in a tangible form. "Artistic" and "literary" are interpreted broadly so an architect's plans are protected as is computer code.</p>

<p>Only the specific expression and any derivative work is protected. If I want to write a novel about children being taken to a school for magic I am not breaching anyone's copyright so long as my work is not derived from any work that may be pre-existing.</p>

<h2>Trademark</h2>

<p>Protects product identity: names, logos, colors, sounds etc. that are associated with a particular range of goods or services - Micky Mouse's ears, Intel's "ting", Apple's logo as well as the names of those products are all trade marks.</p>

<p>Trade marks can either arise through usage or registration and are limited to the jurisdiction and market they are used/registered in.</p>

<p>Trade marks must continue to be used and can be lost through disuse. Less commonly, they can also be lost through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks" rel="nofollow noreferrer">genericization</a> - asprin, linoleum, escalator and trampoline were all once trade marks.</p>

<h2>Patent</h2>

<p>A patent must be registered and protects an invention. This is <strong>more</strong> than an idea - the patent must be something that can be built/used by anyone reading the patent (assuming they have the skills/resources - nuclear reactors are not easy to build even if you have the instructions).</p>

<p>The information provided to gain the patent is made public but the patent holder has exclusive rights to its use for a period of time. </p>

<h2>Registered Design or Design Patent or Community Design</h2>

<p>By whatever name, these protect the "look" of a physical object like a car or a chair - unlike a patent, they do not have to be inventive or original. While the plans of say, a chair, are protected by copyright - the chair itself isn't because its a functional object - not artistic or literary. This is what these protect. They must be applied for.</p>

intellectual-property trademark patents