Intellectual Property and New Ideas

Money laundering and underlying serious crimes happen in almost every country in the world and the costs involved are huge.

We all have ideas, but very few of us ever do anything with them. In this new course, Rob Lucas looks at how to develop and protect your ideas so you can get real value from them. He takes you through the processes required to assess new ideas, select the best ones and avoid wasting your time on those that will not work.

• Assess the viability of ideas
• Protect your ideas from the early stages
• Determine the originality of an idea
• Write and file a patent application
• Explore other options for protecting an idea
• Tackle issues around ownership

Protecting your big idea

• What is intellectual property?
• How can I capture and record ideas?
• How do I decide if an area is worth pursuing?
• What types of protection are there for my idea?
• Why should I protect an idea?
• What are confidentiality agreements?


Checking the idea is original

• Is my idea already out there?
• What is the process for thorough research?
• What is a patent search?
• What are market searches?
• What are price point searches?

Patents

• Why file for a patent?
• When should I file an application?
• Who can help?
• How much does filing a patent application cost?

Registered designs, trade marks and copyright

• What are registered designs?
• What are trade marks?
• What is copyright?

Ownership

• Who owns the IP?
• How does it work when I own the IP?
• How does it work when someone else is involved in the ownership?
• What are companies’ and institutions’ rights to IP created by individuals?
• How does ownership affect confidentiality agreements?

Financial professionals and anyone involved in advising them on the development and protection of new ideas.

Rob Lucas is recognised as an eminent expert in intellectual property (IP) development and commercialisation. Rob has advised the government in innovation and is a former member of the government’s IPPR think tank on the future of digital rights in the UK. He has authored both private and public sector publications in the subject of IP development and commercialisation.