Question 1

What is the difference between a trade mark, a patent, a design right and copyright?

Accepted Answer

Four separate rights protecting **different things**, with different registration requirements and durations. Businesses routinely rely on the wrong one.

**Copyright.** Protects **original creative expression** — text, software code, images, music, film, databases. Arises **automatically** on creation with no registration in the UK and most countries. Protects the **expression**, never the idea. Lasts a long time — generally the author's life plus 70 years for literary and artistic works.

**The business trap:** copyright in work created by a **contractor belongs to the contractor** by default, not to the company paying. It must be assigned in writing. Employees' work created in the course of employment generally belongs to the employer, which is why the distinction matters so much.

**Trade mark.** Protects **badges of origin** — names, logos, slogans, and sometimes shapes, colours and sounds — indicating that goods or services come from you.

Registered for specific **classes** of goods and services, so protection is not general. Renewable indefinitely in ten-year periods, provided it remains in use. **Unregistered marks** have limited protection in the UK through **passing off**, which is harder and more expensive to establish.

**Patent.** Protects **inventions** — how something works, a process or a technical function. Requires the invention to be **new, involve an inventive step, and be capable of industrial application**.

Must be applied for, is examined, takes years, is expensive, and lasts a maximum of **20 years** with renewal fees. Crucially, **the application publishes the invention**, so you trade secrecy for protection. **Disclosing the invention publicly before filing destroys novelty** — the single most common and most expensive error.

**Design right.** Protects **appearance** — shape, configuration, ornamentation. **Registered designs** give stronger, longer protection; **unregistered design right** arises automatically but is shorter and narrower.

**Trade secrets** are the fifth option: protect by confidentiality rather than registration, lasting indefinitely and lost entirely once disclosed.

**Choosing between them:** a brand name is a trade mark; a mechanism is a patent or a secret; software is copyright, with patents difficult in Europe; product appearance is a design right.

General information, not legal advice.

Question 2

What is the difference between a sole trader, a partnership and a limited company?

Accepted Answer

Whether the business is legally separate from you — and that single question drives liability, tax, admin and how you get paid. Sole trader. You are the business. No legal separation. Liability is

Question 3

How do you buy an existing business, and what should you check?

Accepted Answer

Through a structured process — identify, value, offer subject to due diligence, investigate, negotiate, complete — and the investigation stage is where the real work is, because what you are buying

Question 4

Are non-compete clauses actually enforceable?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes — but they start from a position of being void as a restraint of trade, and are enforceable only where the employer can show they go no further than reasonably necessary to protect a

Question 5

What are R&D tax credits and business grants, and who actually qualifies?

Accepted Answer

Two very different forms of public support: tax relief claimed retrospectively for qualifying innovation spending, and grants awarded competitively in advance for specific projects. They are confused

Question 6

What should you check before signing a commercial lease?

Accepted Answer

Considerably more than the rent — because a commercial lease gives you far fewer protections than a residential tenancy, and several standard terms can cost more than the rent itself over the term.

Question 7

What is the difference between articles of association and a shareholders' agreement?

Accepted Answer

The articles are the company's public constitution; a shareholders' agreement is a private contract between the shareholders. They do different jobs and most companies with more than one owner need

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