Business

Quarter of small firms have intellectual property stolen

Smaller firms are struggling to protect their intellectual property, the FSB has said
Smaller firms are struggling to protect their intellectual property, the FSB has said Smaller firms are struggling to protect their intellectual property, the FSB has said

A QUARTER of small firms have had their intellectual property rights violated according to research.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said smaller companies were struggling to protect their ideas.

It said spending money on protecting intellectual property through patents and branding diverted resources from business growth and development.

In response to an FSB survey, a quarter of businesses with intellectual property rights said they had suffered a violation or wrongdoing in the last five years.

It said such infringements could be "incredibly damaging" to small firms with almost a third of those that own intellectual property rights relying on it for between 75 and 100 per cent of revenue.

The most common forms of theft are through the copying of a product (50 per cent), use of copyrighted work on a website (34 per cent), use of copyrighted work in a service or product for sale (33 per cent) and use of trademark (31 per cent).

FSB Northern Ireland policy chairman Wilfred Mitchell said the research "reveals that many of our members gain major benefits when they do invest in protecting their intellectual property, with as many as a fifth (20 per cent) say their investment was not good value for money".

Proper protection of intellectual property is a mainstream issue which deserves a mainstream focus. The knowledge economy, which runs on innovative ideas and brands, is becoming ever more critical to our economic success. Left unchecked, theft and infringement of ideas, patents and brand costs small businesses and diminishes their appetite to invest in their business, ultimately hampering the UKs long-term economic growth," he added.

Intellectual property is a fundamental building block in term of developing Northern Irelands innovation and creative services. Small businesses must be better supported in harnessing intellectual property in the UK and overseas. When infringement does occur, redress should be simple, swift and easy to obtain.