Intellectual Property

You may need to protect your idea or invention from rivals. The UK Intellectual Property Office website (http://www.ipo.gov.uk/) outlines the four types: patents; design; copyright; and trademarks. Searching online for a patent is such a specialised topic that the British Library, a great resource, offers free workshops ( http://www.bl.uk/%20bipc/workshops.html). The site also has a checklist at tinyurl.com/2d3nz3 on what to look for if using free databases such as http://www.freepatentsonline.com/. To find a patent/trademark lawyer, search at http://www.cipa.org.uk/ or http://www.itma.org.uk/.