Intellectual property. What the Group creates, and how it is protected.

The Company is the holder of the Group’s intellectual property. It does not provide financial services; its role is to create, hold and protect the brands, protocols, designs, software and documentation on which the Group’s projects are built.

• Copyright in software, source code, documentation, texts, designs, brand books and this website (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988);
• Database right in the Group’s compilations of data (Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997);
• Trade marks — the Group’s names, logos and project names, protected as unregistered marks under the law of passing off until registration, and as registered marks once registered (Trade Marks Act 1994);
• Designs — under the law on registered and unregistered designs;
• Patents — only where a patent or application is recorded in the IP register (Patents Act 1977);
• Confidential information and trade secrets (Trade Secrets (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2018).

The current status of each right is shown in the IP register. The Company uses ™ for marks that are not registered and will use ® only after registration; describing an unregistered mark as registered is an offence under section 95 of the Trade Marks Act 1994. Planned filings are listed in Commitments and progress.

You may view, print and share pages of this website for your own non-commercial reference. The rules for using the Group’s names and logos are in Brand and IP Usage. Any other use, including copying, adapting, reverse-engineering or using the Group’s materials to train or build another product, requires the Company’s written consent, except where the law expressly permits it.

The Company may grant partners a licence to use its intellectual property, only under a written agreement that sets out the scope, territory and term. Nothing on this website grants a licence or a right to one. A partner that uses the Group’s technology or intellectual property is solely responsible for the services it provides and for obtaining any licence or authorisation they require.

The Company respects the valid intellectual property rights of others and expects the same of those it works with. If you believe material on this website infringes your rights, tell us, and we will review it promptly. The Company will defend its own rights and will contest claims it considers unfounded. Names and marks of other organisations on this website — for example regulators, registers and public services — are used for identification only and do not imply endorsement, partnership or affiliation.

Questions about the Group’s intellectual property, permission requests and reports of suspected infringement can be sent through the general enquiry form. Please choose “Intellectual property” in the subject. This route is for intellectual property matters only.