Guide and direct links to the Government’s Intellectual Property site

To save you spending too much time wandering around the government web site on Intellectual Property (IP), here’s a brief guide, with the relevant links to help you access information instantly.


To read about how your business will benefit from setting up IP contracts, go to IP for business and enterprise


For a little more information on:

Trade marks, go What is a Trademark

Patents, go to What is a Patent

Copyright, go to About Copyright

Designs, go to What is a Design Right


For detailed information on:

Trade marks, go to About Trademarks

Patents, go to About Patents

Copyright, go to About Copyright

Designs, go to About Design Rights


To apply for a:

Trade mark, go to www.ipo.gov.uk/tm/t-applying/t-apply.htm

Patent, go to www.ipo.gov.uk/patent/p-applying/p-apply.htm

Design, go to www.ipo.gov.uk/design/d-applying/d-apply.htm


There is no official registration system for copyright in the UK or most other parts of the world. You don’t need to complete any forms or make any payment to get copyright protection.

If your work qualifies for copyright protection, you automatically have it. To help protect your copyright work, it is advisable to mark it with the © symbol, the name of the copyright owner and the year of publication.