New ideas have the potential to be valuable commodities so need to be safeguarded throughout their development, writes Joe Meaney.
The Invention & Innovation Programme run by NESTA (The National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts) helps people turn ideas into products, services or techniques with social and commercial benefit by providing a wide-ranging package of support.
One of the most important aspects of this support is to secure any intellectual property rights attached to an idea and which would give the creator the chance to be rewarded for its use by others. The first step is when you realise you have an idea that is unique, that could be exploited and is worth protecting ? in other words, some potential intellectual property (IP). The second step is to keep it to yourself until you are ready to formalise that idea as intellectual property. The most common forms of IP are patents and copyright.
In the past many ideas conceived in the UK have been developed overseas, and our most creative people have disappeared along with their ideas. The Japanese Government has estimated that 57 per cent of major technological innovations that benefited the Japanese economy stemmed from ideas or inventions originated in the UK.
NESTA aims to check this through the support it provides. For example, in May last year Duncan Betts was awarded over £78,000 by NESTA to develop a revolutionary new way of learning to play an instrument and mastering music theory for those who find traditional notation too daunting. The award allowed Duncan to safeguard the patent on his idea before beginning to fully realise its potential.
By applying to the Patent Office and being granted a patent, Duncan can commercialise his teaching aid knowing his intellectual property is protected for 20 years and anyone who wants to market his concept in this period has to obtain a licence to do so from him. This way the creator and his idea remain in the UK to the benefit of future generations.
Copyright protection differs from patent rights: it is not applied for and is automatic as soon as materials such as literature, art, music or films have been created and are on record. It does not protect ideas but allows creators to benefit financially from their work when allowing others to use it.
This in turn encourages further creativity and can give rise to further IP being developed. NESTA awardees Donald Thurrock and Peter Ash received £67,579 for an operatic version of Roald Dahl?s classic children?s story, ?Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?. Obviously this involves taking existing copyrighted material and developing it for a different platform: in this case bringing contemporary opera to a new, young audience. Thanks to the NESTA award, Donald and Peter can develop the idea and retain any new intellectual property that arises from the collaboration.
We encourage NESTA awardees to safeguard any new approaches they discover throughout the artistic process. Filmmaker Gillian Lacey was given a £32,770 NESTA award to create new computer-generated 2-D graphics that could add an entirely new dimension to dance production and presentation. The final results have also uncovered a new technique in post-production editing that may be patentable and eventually marketed to a wider market.
Patents and copyrights are by no means the only areas of IP protection worth exploring; design rights and trademarks are equally important ways for organisations to safeguard their ideas. A NESTA award of £38,500 enabled film-makers Rodger Jackman and Elizabeth Leader to protect their idea for hi-tech, interactive digital theatres through trademarks and to develop a prototype to attract further investors.
Issues around IP rights are continuing to evolve to encompass the growth in technology. The issues around free distribution of material on the Internet were widely publicised through the Napster case in America and the new challenges to traditional copyright regimes are still unresolved.
In view of this and other issues, we are holding discussions with various partners on how changes to established IP law affect the cultural sector and how NESTA can provide the type of support that helps creative people protect and benefit from their ideas.
Joe Meaney is Press Officer for NESTA, which exists to invest in the UK?s talent, innovation and creativity. NESTA Enquiry Line t: 020 7645 9538 w: http://www.nesta.org.uk