WHEN looking to protect your business ideas the term 'Intellectual Property' is frequently used, but what does it mean and what can you do to prevent others from taking advantage of your imagination and hard work?

The term usually refers to new ideas and the rights of the owners to exploit their ideas commercially or artistically. These rights apply to the material or artistic forms rather than the ideas themselves.

Examples of intellectual property are new inventions, drawings, photographs, books and magazine articles. Intellectual Property includes the rights and designs defined by patents, copyright and trade marks. Some rights are automatic, others involve a registration process.

The Patent Office is the Government Agency responsible for the administration of the Intellectual Property System in the UK.

The main areas of Intellectual Property with which you may be most familiar are:

A Patent: This enables the owner to stop others from making, using or selling an invention without the permission of the owner for a maximum of 20 years. An annual renewal fee is required to keep the patent in force. UK patents don't apply overseas, but protection can be obtained through one of the international schemes.

Copyright: This is a right against copying and gives automatic protection without registration to new literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works which lasts for 70 years after the author's death. Sound recordings and broadcasts are protected for 50 years, published editions for 25 years. Material on the Internet is also protected by copyright.

Design Rights: These apply automatically to original designs. It ensures prevention of copying lasting ten years from the initial marketing stage and up to 15 years from the creation of the design. To qualify, a design must be the shape or configuration of a manufactured article. Novel designs can have increased legal protection through registration with the Patent Office.

A Trade Mark: This can be defined as any graphical representation which distinguishes one set of goods/services from another. As well as words, letters, numerals, the shape of goods or their packaging, jingles and even smells can now be registered, provided they can be represented graphically.