Copyright theft puts business development at risk

06 July 2015

A quarter of businesses with intellectual property have had their patent violated over the past 5 years.

The survey, by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), found that almost 1 in 3 businesses with intellectual property rely on it to generate between 75% and 100% of their revenue.  Despite this, less than a third of businesses (29%) who had intellectual property stolen took action against the culprits.

The most common means of intellectual property theft are:

• copying a product (50%)
• using copyrighted work on a website (34%) or service or product (33%)
• using a trademark (31%).

John Allan, national chairman of the FSB, said:

"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."

Profiting from your patents

The patent box scheme allows businesses with intellectual property to apply for a corporation tax rate of 10% on profits derived from their patents.

To benefit from the scheme, your business must:

• own or exclusively license-in a patent granted by the UK Intellectual Property Office, the European Patent Office or patent offices in certain countries in the European Economic Area
• make profits from the patent
• have contributed to the invention
• pay corporation tax.

For further information or advice, you can contact Shane O’Dowd (Senior Manager, Taxation) at our Lurgan office at (028) 3832 4924 or by email at shane@dalypark.com .