THE Scottish Government should consider creating an “intellectual property” (IP) plan to help companies protect their ideas and inventions and to compete on a global scale, according to a senior lawyer.
Gill Grassie, an IP partner at law firm Brodies, said that sectors including IT, life sciences, oil and gas and renewable energy were generating ideas that needed protection.
Fellow IP partner Robert Buchan said that having a national IP strategy could also help attract inward investment by reassuring investors that the country is serious about protecting inventions and ideas.
Grassie said: “We need to look at IP at a global level. China has a specific five-year IP plan to increase businesses’ awareness of IP, with incentives for businesses to register. China’s whole aim is to move up the food chain in the global economy, moving from being the country that manufactures products that have been designed from ideas in other countries to actually generating the ideas.”
A survey by Brodies found that more than a fifth of businesses in Scotland still do not keep a record of their IP.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Independence offers an opportunity for Scotland to decide how it wishes to structure its own approach to IP regulation.
“In the coming weeks and months, we will be engaging with the relevant stakeholders to help shape our thinking.”