All of the Partners & People of AA Thornton have joined Venner Shipley

SMEs & start-up advice

Home / Knowledge Hub / SMEs & start-up advice

Why is IP important to the success of your growing business?

Intellectual Property (IP) can be crucial to the commercial success of your business, particularly in the early stages. It is a very valuable asset that will help you secure a market share and grow your business. Having an appropriate IP strategy should allow you to exploit the rewards and manage the risks.

The main reward of securing your own IP is that it affords you a legal monopoly that can provide exclusivity for parts of your chosen market. Through IP you can stop competitors using brands that are too close to your own, or prevent them from using the technical innovation on which your business is being built.

Beyond the exclusivity that can be provided, your own IP can also be used a marketing tool, it can help you secure funding from investors, and can be sold or licensed like any other property.

Unfortunately there is another side to IP that is often overlooked, and that is the risks. Competitors might have their own IP which could present a barrier to your plans and, if not identified early, these barriers can be very costly overcome.

How can we help you?

At AA Thornton we can work with you to help you understand your IP position and create an appropriate IP strategy by identifying what IP you have, helping you to protect important IP, and carrying out searches to reduce the risk of problematic third party IP being unexpectedly identified. We will be with you every step of the way.

Our dedicated team can help you:

Develop an IP strategy aligned with your business objectives
Protect your IP rights using:

Our team can also assist when things become contentious:

If you would like to discuss your ideas or how to commercialise them, fill our form below and one of our attorneys will contact you shortly.
[gravityform id=”8″ title=”false” description=”true”]

Key contacts

Patent Box: Inventing a way to reduce Corporation Tax

Patent Box: Inventing a way to reduce Corporation Tax Most companies would like to invent a way to reduce their corporation tax liability. The UK Patent Box scheme provides a way to do just that by offering a reduced corporation tax rate of 10% for profits arising from patented inventions. This tax saving through innovation… Read more »

Government R&D Tax Credits Consultation

Deadline approaching for the Government R&D Tax Credits Consultation – your input needed for potential changes to RDEC and SME R&D Relief Government R&D Tax Credits Consultation: The UK government intends to raise investment in research and development to 2.4% of UK GDP by 2027 and wants to ensure that one of the key incentives for… Read more »