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Support for protecting your ideas
Get professional help from intellectual property advisers, a patent attorney or a trade mark attorney to protect your intellectual property in an invention
Find manufacturers to build a prototype
Sources of information on product designers and manufacturers who can help you develop your invention
Support for product safety and testing
How to arrange product safety assessment, and where to find testing laboratories, services and product certification in the UK
Support for developing your ideas
Where to get help to develop new product ideas if you're looking to manufacture, market, sell or license your inventions
IP rights: copyright
What is copyright, when does it apply, and how you can use it to protect your intellectual property
IP rights: trade marks
What are trade marks, and how to register trade marks to protect your brand, products or business
IP rights: designs
An overview of design as an intellectual property asset and advice on how to use unregistered and registered designs to secure your IP
IP rights: patents
What is a patent, how to apply for one, and how to use and enforce it to protect your business' intellectual property
Open data opportunities for business
What is open data, where to find open data in Northern Ireland, and how to make the most of its business opportunities.
Checklist: developing a product or service
Step-by-step list on how to develop new products or services, with a checklist of key things to consider before and during development
Get help with intellectual property protection
Advice, guidance and support with intellectual property issues for Northern Ireland businesses
Avoid infringing other people's intellectual property
How to check that you are not infringing other people's intellectual property
The importance of protecting intellectual property
Understand the significance of intellectual property rights and why it is important to protect IP such as trade marks, patents, designs and copyright
Intellectual property audit
How to conduct an intellectual property audit and assess the ownership of IP rights in your business
Types of legal protection for intellectual property rights
How to choose the right type of legal protection for your patents, trade marks, design and copyright
Intellectual property rights and your employees
How to ensure you hold the rights to any IP created by staff by stating the position in employment contracts
Intellectual property and freelance contractors
How to manage intellectual property rights if you commission work from freelancers or through work-for-hire agreements
Prevent intellectual property infringement
How to safeguard intellectual property rights by ensuring hard-copy information is kept securely and by protecting computer data
Protecting your business name and domain name
Your business name can be your most important intellectual property asset - learn how to protect it and how to register web addresses
Register a trade mark outside the UK
How to register a trade mark in Europe and internationally by applying for EU trade mark registration or applying under the WIPO's Madrid protocol