Patents

• Protect inventions which may be new products or manufacturing processes, improvements to existing products or processes, or new uses of existing products or processes.
• Are intended to protect the principle behind an invention, as widely as possible.
• May be used to protect both major innovations, and smaller technical advances.
• It is important to keep an invention confidential until a patent application is safely on file.

Trade Marks

• Are any signs, for example words or logos, which may be used to distinguish one trader's goods or services from those of another.
• Can be protected by registration.

Designs

• Refer to the appearance, for example the shape or surface decoration, of an article.
• Unlike patents, are not concerned with how an article works.
• Can be protected by registration.
• It is generally important to keep a design confidential if protection is to be sought by registration.