The IP Audit Plus Programme
The IP Audits Plus programme is a government funded initiative which has been developed to ensure that individuals and businesses with products or services having growth potential receive high quality guidance and advice through dedicated channels. The programme is funded up to £2,500 inclusive of VAT by the UK Intellectual Property Office and administered by economic development agencies such as Scottish Enterprise or other local equivalent bodies. Clients are expected to make a top-up contribution of £500 inclusive of VAT.
The IP Audit Plus programme has proven to be a highly cost-effective route to obtaining commercially valuable advice on issues such as IP asset identification, assessing strengths and weaknesses associated with those IP assets, and developing an effective strategy for using IP assets to support business development or growth.
Assuming you are able to obtain funding through the IP Audits Plus scheme we can then proceed with undertaking the audit and preparing a report for your review. This can be tailored to your specific requirements; however, in general it may typically include e.g.
- An initial information-gathering meeting and a post-audit review meeting (up to 1 hour in duration each). The purpose of such a meeting is to ensure that we have a good understanding of your current and/or proposed product(s) and/or service(s), and to discuss any known or potential IP issues that are giving you concern. This preliminary review will allow us to focus and prioritise the issues to be covered within the IP Audit report.
- Based on the information gathered at our meeting, we would then conduct the necessary work and prepare the IP Audit report highlighting any recommendations and associated costs. Common areas of focus are listed below, but our work will be customised to cover the particular issues identified during our meeting:
- Assess the inherent patentability of your new product(s) and/or service(s)
- Conduct a professional pre-filing patentability search relating to any new product(s) and/or service(s) and summarise the results in an easily digestible format
- Assess the impact of prior public disclosures (if any) on the validity of any patent application filed
- Assess whether or not any of the patent rights located via the pre-filing patentability search would represent a barrier to your freedom to make/use/sell your product(s) and/or service(s) in the United Kingdom
- Assess the suitability of registered designs as an additional or alternative form of IP protection
- Assess the inherent registrability of any proposed brand names or logos
- Conduct a professional availability search covering the United Kingdom for any proposed brand names or logos
- Provide advice on any other categories of IP appropriate to your product(s) and/or service(s)
- Making you more aware of any issues, risks and opportunities surrounding IP, e.g. including IP ownership, confidentiality etc.
If you require any further advice on this or wish us to put you in touch with an advisor who can begin the process of applying for an IP Audit please contact us.