Commercialise Your Intellectual Property – Government Funded IP Audit

October 6, 2020

 

IP can be a significant asset and can add substantial value to your business.

If you have a good understanding of what IP rights exist in your business, you can make sure that they are protected, cannot be used without your permission and can be commercialised in order to maximise your business revenue and growth.

Tegen Quinn outlines the benefits of an IP Audit and the simple steps to arrange one for your business.

Why should I have an IP Audit?

The Intellectual Property team at Darwin Gray work closely with many clients who have benefitted from an IP Audit. The audit will provide your business with legal advice on how to identify and protect its existing IP assets. It can help you to:

  • identify the IP in your business

  • protect your IP

  • assess potential threats to your IP by third parties, including customers, suppliers and also employees

  • explore greater commercial exploitation of your IP

  • help your business to grow

  • make your business more attractive to investors.

Get in touch to find out how we can assist with arranging your IP audit: email tquinn@darwingray.com or contact our Intellectual Property team.

What does the scope of an IP Audit cover?

Each audit we undertake is tailored to the needs of your business and will involve an in-depth review of all the intellectual property rights associated with your business. This will involve us having a discussion with you about your business and how it operates, reviewing any existing identified intellectual property and reviewing your contracts with employees, contractors, suppliers and other third parties as appropriate to identify the impact they may have on your ownership of the IP.

We then prepare a written report with a full breakdown of everything that we have identified, including additional intellectual property rights that we have identified, protection and recommendations for future commercialisation.

Who needs an IP Audit?

We have conducted a significant number of government funded audits for a wide range of businesses and sizes, whether you are a start-up or a larger business looking to expand, maximise your revenue or prepare for a future exit.

In our experience, every business could benefit from an IP Audit. For example, a tech company will need to know what patent rights it has or can potentially obtain, whether it has full ownership of the IP rights in any software (including the name) it has created so that it can potentially be licensed or commercialised in another way.

For goods and services business, you may want to know about the rights in your name and website.  Perhaps you have built up substantial goodwill in your business and/or product name and want to protect that.

Even professional services firms could benefit from an IP Audit. They might also want to know about the rights in their name and their website, such as who owns the domain name and any photographs.

How do I apply for an IP Audit?

Businesses do need to meet eligibility criteria and will need to submit an application to the Welsh Government. Get in touch with us so that we can introduce you to the Welsh Government representative and assist with your application: email tquinn@darwingray.com or contact our Intellectual Property team.

If you do not want to engage with the part-funded application process then we can offer a privately funded option. The privately funded option offers an opportunity to tailor the IP Audit to your specific needs and the cost would be dependent on the scope of work to be carried out.

 

 

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To speak to one of our experts today, please contact us on 02920 829 100 or by using our Contact Us form for a free initial chat to see how we can help.

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