Ask yourself:
Our IP services are commercially focused on outcome and we share the risk of developing your IP. We are not interested in billable hours or academic badges but rather getting a clear and focused understanding of your IP opportunities. We see your IP through a commercial lens – both to look inside your business or to look externally at your industry and competition.
Our work is in itself a valuable audit of your intangible IP assets. Whatever your business, your product and process IP could be significant and can be one of the most valuable assets your business owns.
GovGrant will have an upfront and frank conversation about the possible. We have a clear view of the destination before setting off on the journey. A journey in which we collaborate with you to reveal insights and allow the value of IP to become more accessible to you and your business.
Ensure your business recognises and receives the full credit it is due with GovGrant’s IP services. Patent Box enables the owner of a granted UK patent to benefit from a reduced corporation tax rate on profits related to your patented technology.
Are you currently working towards your next funding stage? We have links to the investor community and therefore understand what they look for when it comes to IP. A granted UK patent will bring comfort to investors that your ‘secret sauce’ is protected and cannot be copied or taken from your business – if your funding stage is just around the corner, we have a proven method for speeding up an otherwise lengthy process to achieve a granted UK patent.
Perhaps you are about to launch a product and want to maximise the commercial income from your invention. Approximately 80% of a company’s value is attributed to intangible assets, we help identify and commercialise your assets to their full potential. We are innovation experts and not lawyers, we advise which aspects of your business give you the best chance for a granted UK patent and, consequently, get you entry into the Patent Box scheme.
Perhaps you have come up with a game-changing idea in a very competitive industry and want to ensure that nobody rides the coattails of your hard-earned IP. We will work with you to formulate an effective IP strategy that ensures that you gain the maximum protection possible to keep competitors out and clear the path for you to commercialise your innovation successfully.
GovGrant can provide tailored reports to help you understand your sector, your competition and your innovation opportunities. Here are some examples of the kind or reports we can build to your meet your business strategy requirements.
Patent data is often used to construct an innovation landscape, uncovering the R&D effort exerted into a certain field of technology at a given point in time. Patent landscapes are often used by companies to better understand ‘what is going on’ within a technology area, by analysing the current art to help define whether there are any potential gaps in the market that you may be able to exploit. The exercise is incredibly valuable as it gives you the best possible chance of ensuring that you are not about to tackle a problem that has already been solved. In addition to, providing a view on how saturated or unsaturated your chosen technology area may be and who the top players are within that space.
A GovGrant IP landscape study could answer these questions:
An IP benchmarking report is designed to compare and contrast your IP with your closest competition. This comprehensive study will uncover and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your portfolio and give you a detailed view of what your competitors are patenting. Consequently, the study will provide valuable technical and commercial insights into the demographic of your competitors’ IP. What are they patenting? When did they patent it and where are they protecting it? Are all questions that will be answered, it will give you a view under the hood of your competitors’ IP and, even wider, their R&D strategy, how it has evolved over time and how it is expected to evolve in the future.
Alternatively, if you do not currently own any patents, we can compare and contrast your current R&D strategy with your competitors’ IP strategy.
A GovGrant IP benchmarking study could answer these questions
Intellectual Property includes, but is not limited to, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets and patents. It is in all cases an intangible asset that a company should value.
For your invention to be eligible for a patent, it must satisfy three criteria in the opinion of a patent examiner. It must
If all three criteria are met, then the idea is considered to be an invention and a patent will be granted
A trade secret is the information or know-how belonging to a company that is kept confidential due to the value it brings to the business.
Patents offer the exclusive right to the owner to prevent others from using their invention for up to 20 years, in exchange for the blueprint detailing what the invention is, how the invention works and how it should be carried out.
Companies should be weighing up the pros and cons of considering their innovation as a trade secret or following the route towards a patent. It may be that both options are explored at different stages within the product cycle.
Our IP services, including Patent Box, are closely linked with R&D tax relief and a company can often claim tax relief under both schemes. GovGrant can offer you advice to maximise your claims across both schemes. Find out more about our R&D tax relief services.
Mark Barrett | Managing Director, Warden Plastics
