Major Project – Outcome IP

Intellectual Property

I have discussed copyright and trademark registration with the Wessex Innovation Service who advised applying for Trademark protection for The Talking Walls, and registering the design for the template and the matrix. Earlier in the year I acquired two domain names – www.thetalkingwalls.com and www.thetalkingwalls.co.uk ready for the website to be uploaded once completed in full. I am in the process of Registering the Design but have decided not to patent the concept of The Talking Walls. This is due to the length of time it takes to patent an idea and can be notoriously difficult to achieve and, at the end, it is unreliable as a form of IP protection. By the time a patent was approved, the software could very possibly be out of date or already recreated by another company. Once the patent has been applied for, your idea is available to anyone who cared to look for it.

My plan is to ensure that this product reaches the right market quickly, before another company recreates the idea. The Wessex Innovation Service recommended that anyone that I discussed the project with should sign a confidentiality agreement to help protect the idea. This was certainly helpful for the last meeting with the National Trust at Dunster. I needed to show them how the project was progressing and gauge their interest at this level, but at the same time, I did not want them to pass the idea on to anyone else who might replicate it and get it to market before I could. Without a signed confidentiality agreement, the information shown would have been open for them to pass on to whomever they chose.

Dunster, due to their interest after having seen the project, then asked me to sign an agreement whereby I would present the final demonstrator to them before anyone else on completion of the MAiP. Having had these meetings with the Wessex Innovation Service, my knowledge of both intellectual property rights and licensing has certainly helped to manage meetings such as the one with Dunster Castle, with a more professional attitude.