Knowledge and understanding of intellectual property rights among small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK

The UK Intellectual Property Office has currently released an intellectual property survey report targeting 1,081 business owners, self-employed individuals, middle managers, senior managers, supervisors or executive-level employees. The survey subjects and all participants in the survey report are from the UK.

Overall, awareness of IP among UK SMEs is high, with four in five (79%) claiming to be familiar with the term and two in five (43%) claiming to be very familiar. SMEs, businesses claiming to use IP protection, businesses in the manufacturing sector and start-ups were particularly keen to emphasise their familiarity with IP.

However, the real understanding of IP rights, which are most commonly used to protect products and services, is far below awareness, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises, manufacturing industries and start-ups. This shows that many companies understand IP rights only as a term itself.

Just under two-thirds (63%) of businesses said they use IP protection to protect their ideas, innovations and creations, and just over a third (37%) claimed to use registered IP. The highest percentage of businesses claiming to use IP protection is among medium-sized businesses and start-ups.

About two-fifths (41%) of companies that claim to use intellectual property protection say they do not actually enforce their intellectual property rights. The most fundamental reason for this result is cost. In addition, lack of expertise and time are also reasons why companies cannot enforce their intellectual property rights.

This is reflected in businesses that do not use IP protection, with nearly a quarter saying they do not protect IP due to a lack of knowledge (23%), a fifth due to the costs involved (18%), and just over a tenth due to a lack of expertise in the field (13%).

However, one in seven (15%) businesses said they pay attention to the relevant information from the Intellectual Property Office to obtain information and guidance on protecting their ideas, innovations and creations, with the most commonly used intellectual property services being the UK Intellectual Property Office website guidance and the UK Intellectual Property Office's online tools. More than four in five (81%) businesses said that the information and guidance provided by the UK Intellectual Property Office was very useful, and that this information and useful tools helped them make informed business decisions.