Protect your good business ideas Kelly & Co partner Lisa Jarrett. A GOOD business idea can spark a global enterprise, so protecting that idea from the start makes good sense. Successful global businesses invest millions of dollars protecting their intellectual property in patents, trademarks, copyright and designs but even they can get caught out. The US Olympic movement, for example, rushed to defend its rights when a social group created the Knitting Olympics, but soon backed down once the knitters showed the strength of their twine. Chiliad Consulting principal Adele Flego says small businesses may overlook the basics of intellectual property when starting their business. "Making that decision doesn't happen as often as it should ... that's the massive take-home message," she says. It might be when they are starting up they don't expect the opportunities to take their business global. The bad news is an idea won't cut it alone, Kelly & Co partner Lisa Jarrett says. "You can't protect an idea, you can only protect the expression of that idea," she says. Businesses therefore need to identify how that idea is expressed as a design, as a circuit board, as a logo to identify the form of protection sought and the limitations of that protection (see inset box). But even so, there are changes in the wind. Legislation coming into force from April 15 will tie Australia's laws more closely to those internationally and, some may argue, help small businesses better protect their intellectual property. Thomsons Lawyers partner Tony Conaghan says Australian patents will become harder to attain, bringing them into line with international standards, but also offering better protection once granted in an international setting. Those challenging a patent or trademark will also have less time to manage the court process, thereby decreasing costs, and businesses can turn to the Federal Magistrates' Court and its lower costs to resolve design disputes, Conaghan says. Businesses will also have a quicker mechanism to protect themselves against imported rip-offs, he says. "Currently ... the goods are seized by Customs and the IP (internet protocol) owner is required to start proceedings to enforce its rights," he says. The (new) procedure permits an IP owner to inspect or remove samples of the seized documents, which should allow for more accurate determinations about whether the IP right has been infringed. The importer must also turn to a court to prove there is no infringement to release the goods, he says. Flego admits the law of patents is specialised. Patents can be searched online at IP Australia or the World Intellectual Property Organisation searching for a narrow definition at first, and then broadening it if nothing is found. Use words that "distinctly describe" your invention, then branch out to the functionality and the concepts. Kelly & Co's Jarrett says businesses can do their own searches and familiarise themselves with how intellectually property is treated in a legal sense, but the more difficult areas such as patents should be left for the professionals to deal with. "The benefit of engaging a solicitor or trademark or patent attorney is they will be more experienced for what to look for ," she says.