Intellectual Property refers to creations of the mind - all of your ideas, inventions, and designs can be considered as your IP.

Intellectual property can be a very valuable asset and care must be taken to ensure you do not give it away.

Losing your IP is easy, if your idea is considered to be in the 'public domain' before you have protection then you will forfeit your legal rights to it.

There are several ways to protect your intellectual property:

The first and simplest way is to keep it quite or at least confidential. When you are in development stages you can use confidentiality agreements with people / companies who you need to discuss your invention with.

The second way is through patent protection. When you have a patent you have legal rights to the design and its use.

Depending on your product there are other legal ways of protecting your IP such as Trademarks, Registered designs, and Copyrights.

Legally protecting your intellectual property can be quite expensive, so it is best to keep your invention confidential and delay patenting until you are sure of its commercial benefits.

" Do your market research before investing large amounts in IP protection. Statistically only 3% of patents make more money than they cost. People who seek professional help have a much higher success rate"