5.2.3 - Intellectual-property protection

Protecting different assets

Suppose a company develops RoutePulse, a navigation app that works with a new low-power location sensor. The product includes source code, screen graphics, a name and logo, the sensor technology, and rules that tell customers how they may use the software. These are different kinds of asset, so one protection does not cover all of them.

The four methods in this lesson answer different questions:

These protections help creators and organisations control their work, challenge unauthorised use, and decide how other people may use it. Different protections can apply to different parts of the same product, and sometimes protections can overlap.

Copyright and software

In the UK, qualifying original software code gains copyright protection automatically when it is created. There is no requirement to apply or pay a registration fee. Copyright can also protect original graphics, sound, written documentation and web content used with a computer system.

Copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the general idea or purpose itself. Consider two cases:

• A rival copies sections of RoutePulse's source code and redistributes them. This is the kind of action copyright allows the rights holder to control.
• Another team independently writes different code for a navigation app with similar functions. The shared purpose alone does not show that RoutePulse's copyright has been infringed; the protected code or another protected work would need to have been copied or used.

The symbol © can identify a copyright claim, but displaying it is not what creates UK copyright protection.

Patents and inventions

Unlike copyright, a patent is not automatic: an application must be examined and granted. At GCSE level, the key test is whether the asset is an invention rather than merely copied creative work or a brand. In the UK, the invention must be new, inventive rather than an obvious change, and technical or capable of being made or used.

Writing new software does not guarantee a patent. Software with a non-technical purpose is not patentable merely because code has been written. A computer-implemented invention may be eligible when it provides the required technical contribution.

For example, RoutePulse's newly devised low-power sensor and technical control method might be suitable for a patent if they meet the legal criteria. The visual design of an ordinary app screen or the broad idea of giving directions would not, by itself, meet those criteria. Copyright would still protect original code used to implement the system.

Trademarks and brands