Businesses’ use of intellectual property

The headline

Two out of five UK businesses have intellectual property to protect.

Trademarking is their preferred method.

The details

How many businesses have intellectual property to protect?

Two out of five (38%) UK businesses have intellectual property to protect.

How do businesses protect their intellectual property?

Trademarking is the most popular way to protect intellectual property. One in six (17%) UK businesses have used it in the past three years.

Of the UK businesses that use patents to protect their intellectual property, how many have they typically registered in the past three years?

Of the 5% of UK businesses that use patents to protect their intellectual property, most (64%) have registered between one and four in the past three years.

Overall, the average number of patents registered by businesses is five. However, this only reflects the fact that a few large businesses have registered numerous patents. At least half the businesses we surveyed had only registered a single patent in the last three years.

For more information on research and development, please see the DTI’s R&D Scoreboard.