New IP and trade toolkits for SMEs
The UK and US governments have published guides for SMEs to help protect intellectual property rights in their markets.
IP connect is the Intellectual Property Office media service.
The production of the toolkits followed a meeting of the UK - US Trade and Investment Working Group in November 2017.
The Working Group, which will meet for the third time later this month, works to deepen current trade and investment ties between the two nations. It lays the groundwork for a potential, future free trade agreement once the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
SMEs are the lifeblood of the UK economy and trade in IP is an increasingly important part of UK business activity. The UK’s global exports of intellectual property services totalled £11.5 billion in 2015. At the start of 2017, 99.9% of private sector businesses in the UK were SMEs. These toolkits will provide information to SMEs to encourage trade between our two countries.
The following toolkits are available:
The IPO would welcome your views on the toolkits and ways in which they could be used. Our trade team can be contacted at IPOTrade@ipo.gov.uk.