From the 1st of October the new Intellectual property act came into force.

There are quite a few features that are worth taking note of. Perhaps the most important is the Unitary Patent:

“..Long in the making, the Unitary Patent will cover 25 EU Member States. Right now, a patent application that spans 25 European countries can rack up a bill of up to £20,000 in translation costs alone. Similar translation costs for the Unitary Patent would be around £600….”

So this is very important for anyone wishing to expand patent coverage into Europe. Read more at the following links:

Overview: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/hargreaves-ipbill

A pdf on how this affects patents: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipbill-patents.pdf

And how this affects registered designs: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/hargreaves-ipbill-designs.pdf

…It is worth questioning however, if it is necessary to apply for patents internationally as the costs are still high. In my opinion this should only be done if a significant commercial arrangement is already in place. That is, if you already have a very firm offer of some kind (from a licensee) or orders from buyers if manufacturing yourself or if you have secured significant funding already.

Tax Relief for R&D companies: The Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Scheme

If you are already an established company, you may be eligible for a significant tax reduction for R&D expenditure.

“This scheme has higher rates of relief. From 1 April 2012, the tax relief on allowable R&D costs is 225% – that is, for each £100 of qualifying costs, your company or organisation could have the income on which CT is paid reduced by an additional £125 on top of the £100 spent. It also includes a payable credit in some circumstances.”

You can read more here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ct/forms-rates/claims/randd.htm