Internet intellectual property protection simple

Companies with an online presence should be able to protect their intellectual property rights relatively easily, it has been claimed.

According to Lawrence Smith-Higgins, head of business, outreach and education at the Intellectual Property Office, companies often make mistakes that are surprising considering the amount of information available to them on the subject.

"If you're launching a company where the name is very, very important and you're going to build a brand then you ought to take some basic steps to protect that trade mark from the word go, rather than establish it in the market place," he added.

He added that small business will find protecting their intellectual property will not cost them anything initially, apart from the time it takes to find the correct information.

A Confederation of British Industry report entitled 'UK competitiveness: the role of IT services' revealed 28 per cent of companies have fallen victim to 'cybersquatters', who register, traffic in or use a domain name in an attempt to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.