Intellectual property has become a hot topic for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), with a 68% rise in legal proceedings.
According to law firm Hugh James, which has researched the subject, businesses are becoming more exposed to the risk of intellectual property theft as they move to online platforms. Original designs, images and video content can easily be reproduced or stolen from websites, causing damage to the business owner’s brand.
This has led to a sizeable increase in court proceedings launched to protect intellectual property.
A record 339 claims were heard by the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) in 2016, up from 202 in 2015. IPEC streamlines procedures to help businesses reach a speedy conclusion. It handles small business claims worth up to £500,000 and caps costs recoverable from the losing side at £50,000.
Hugh James said this cost-effectiveness makes IPEC more accessible to SMEs, giving them greater confidence to bring a claim. It said businesses are also increasingly able to leverage the value of their intellectual property to secure funding for investment, which gives them an incentive both to take pre-emptive action and to enforce any infringement.
Tracey Singlehurst-Ward, Hugh James partner, said: ‘While previously a business’s most valuable asset tended to be physical it is more often than not now found in some intangible intellectual property.
‘That could be patents, designs, trademarks and goodwill in their brands or other works attracting copyright.
‘We no longer have an economy focused in manufacturing, but rather have a fast pace technology sector driven to reach the next intellectual creation first. Failure to invest at a small cost early on or take steps to protect what you have can cost SMEs dearly later down the line.’
