British Software in China – Intellectual Property and Industrial Software Considerations

The UK Intellectual Property Office recently published a guide for British companies looking to provide software to projects or customers in China to help identify and mitigate potential intellectual property (IP) risk.  It is a useful high-level read that is applicable to different offerings of software, whether as part of a service or packaged with installed hardware.

China is involved in the development of many emerging technologies, including large-scale deployment of Artificial Intelligence, big data technology, cloud computing services and Internet of Things (IoT), among others.  Consequently there are many opportunities for British software companies to fulfil the demand for high-quality software to manage and analyse data in such technologies.

The guide provides many practical considerations that may be used when embarking on cross-jurisdiction ventures, and discusses the different areas of IP risk and how to manage them, with topics ranging from software infringement, regulatory compliance, copyright recordals, patents, designs and trade marks to contracts and enforcement.  It is worth having a read and considering whether any of these topics might relate to your business.

If you are a software firm looking for an IP service provider that can help protect your assets and understand your business and its commercial objectives please get in touch with us to arrange an initial discussion or find out more about our ConsultIP services.