Notice

IP and Business Growth Survey: Summary of Responses

Published 31 July 2024

Introduction

On 20 November 2023, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) launched the IP and Business Growth survey aimed at businesses of all sizes with intellectual property (IP) assets. The survey ran for 10 weeks and closed on 2 February 2024. The survey aimed to gather insights into the UK’s IP-backed finance ecosystem and IP insurance landscape.

The survey was split into the following sections:

• section 1 covered information about the respondent’s business, such as location, sector, firm size, age and other business activities
• section 2 covered perception, ownership, and management of IP
• section 3 covered questions on access to finance, including use of external finance
• section 4 covered experiences of IP insurance

Validation of responses

The IPO received 105 responses to the survey. 22 responses were removed from the survey summary for the following reasons:

• 9 responses were from businesses based outside the UK, without UK-based operations
• 9 responses could not be found on the Companies House register, or did not have a company website or other means of verification
• 4 responses were duplicative (the same respondent had answered the survey more than once). Where this occurred, the respondent’s most recent response was selected for inclusion

Full analysis of the 83 validated survey responses is set out in the summary below.

Sampling methodology

This survey was aimed at UK businesses of all sizes, and from a wide range of sectors, that hold IP.

On the basis of cost and feasibility, the snowball sampling method was chosen. This approach is typically used to sample hard-to-reach populations and involved advertising the survey at the London Business Show, on social media, through trade associations and other IPO trusted networks, and then relying on referrals and word-of-mouth to reach as many members of the target population as possible. Participation in the survey was on a voluntary basis, and respondents were not offered incentives to take part.

The resulting sample is unrepresentative of the UK business population that holds IP, with under-sampling is particularly evident amongst start-up businesses. This could not be mitigated by use of sampling weights, given the small sample size. The business population that holds IP was identified using business population statistics, past IPO research into IP-intensive industries, and the 2023 IP Awareness Survey (see Annex for more detail).

Next steps

The IPO is currently conducting a review of the UK’s IP insurance landscape, including interviews with insurers and brokers. The survey was designed in part to capture the views of actual and potential users of IP insurance. Survey responses, while not representative of the overall UK business population, offer insights into the experiences of some stakeholders. The IPO recognises the importance of better understanding the experiences of small and medium enterprises in using IP insurance. The findings of this survey will act as a feasibility study for future research into the UK’s IP insurance landscape.

On IP-backed finance, the survey follows the publication of a joint report with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) looking at both the investment climate and IP-backed financing options emerging in the UK to help businesses scale and grow, ^{[footnote 1]}.

Summary of responses

Section 1: About your business

Question 1: Is your business primarily based in the UK?

Of the 83 respondents, 81 are primarily based in the UK (98%). 2 are based outside the UK and have UK-based operations (2%).

Respondents based outside the UK (and without UK-based operations) were removed from the analysis.

Question 2: Please select where your company is primarily based in the UK:

Of the 83 respondents, 16 (19%) are based in London, 15 (18%) are in the South East, 12 (14%) are in the South West, 10 (12%) are in the North West, and 7 (8%) are in the East of England. Scotland and Yorkshire and The Humber have 5 respondents (6%) each, the North East, East Midlands and Wales have 3 respondents (4%) each and 2 respondents (2%) are in the West Midlands.

Comparing to ONS business population statistics (see Annex), businesses were oversampled from the South West, North East, North West and South East of England. Businesses were under-sampled from Northern Ireland (no respondents), the West Midlands, and the East Midlands.

Question 3: Please select the country where your company is primarily based.

The two respondents based outside the UK, with UK-based operations, are based in the Republic of Ireland and Bangladesh.

Question 4: Is your company a subsidiary/branch of a larger company?

Only 4 of the 83 respondents (5%) answered that their company is a subsidiary/branch of a larger company. The remaining 79 respondents (95%) were not a subsidiary/branch of a larger company.

Question 5: What is the size of your company?

	Number of survey respondents	% of survey sample
1 Employee	24	29%
Micro (2-9 employees)	47	57%
Small (10 - 49 employees)	8	10%
Medium (50 - 249 employees)	1	1%
Large (250 or more employees)	3	4%

The vast majority of responses to the survey came from micro businesses, with 47 respondents (57%), and businesses with 1 employee, with 24 respondents (29%).

8 respondents (10%) were small businesses (10-49 employees), 1 respondent (1%) was a medium sized business (50-249 employees), and 3 respondents (4%) were large businesses (250 or more employees).

Comparing to business population statistics and existing evidence on use of IP protection by company size (see Annex), businesses with 1 employee were under-sampled in the survey.

Question 6: In which industry does your business mainly operate in?

Respondents were asked to select one industry in which their business mainly operates, based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC):

• 20% of responses to the survey came from businesses in the professional, scientific, and technical activities industry (17 respondents)

• 17% of responses came from businesses in the other service activities industry (14 respondents); 12% from the manufacturing industry (10 respondents); 8% from the arts, entertainment and recreation industry (7 respondents); 7% from the information and communication industry (6 respondents); and 5% from the education industry (4 respondents)

• agriculture, forestry and fishing; financial and insurance activities; construction, and the services sector had 3 respondents each

• production; water supply, sewage, waste management, and remediation activities; administrative and support service activities; real estate activities; and human health and social work activities had 2 respondents each

• wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; transportation and storage; and electricity, gas, steam, and air condition supply each had 1 respondent

Comparing to research on IP intensive industries in the UK ^{[footnote 2]}, businesses from the industries of manufacturing and production were under-sampled in the survey, and businesses from the industries of agriculture, forestry and fishing, and construction were over-sampled (see Annex). 

Question 7: How old is your business?

How old is your business?	Number of survey respondents	% of survey sample
Less than 1-year	8	10%
1-2 years	3	4%
2-3 years	7	8%
3-5 years	11	13%
5 – 10 years	18	22%
10 – 15 years	10	12%
15 – 20 years	7	8%
20 years+	19	23%

Over a third of responses to the survey came from start-up businesses that are less than 5 years old (29 out of 83 respondents, 35%). Within this group, 8 responses came from businesses set up in the last year (10%).

18 responses came from businesses that are 5-10 years old (22%), 10 responses were received from businesses that are 10-15 years old (12%), and 7 responses were received from businesses that are 15-20 years old (8%).

19 responses came from established businesses that are over 20 years old (23%).

Question 8: In the past three years, has your business achieved growth in employment numbers and/or turnover of more than 20% a year?

Over a third of respondents to the survey answered that their business has achieved growth in employment numbers and/or turnover of more than 20% a year in the last three years (30 out of 83 respondents, 36%).

Question 9: Is your business a spinout company?

Only 4 out of 83 responses to the survey (5%) came from spinout companies, businesses set-up to exploit research developed within universities or research institutions.

Question 10: Does your business trade abroad?

Over half of respondents to the survey, 48 out of 83 respondents (58%), trade abroad.

Question 11: Is your company a member of a trade association, industry trade group, or industry body? If so, please name the associations your company is a member of.

This was an optional question where respondents could provide free text responses. A third of respondents (27 out of 83 respondents) named at least one trade association, industry trade group or industry body that their company is a member of.

Those most frequently named included the Federation of Small Businesses (9 respondents).

40 other trade associations were named once each by respondents.

Section 2: IP perspective, management and ownership

Question 12: Does your business hold any intellectual property (IP)?

The vast majority of responses to the survey came from businesses that hold IP (82%, 68 respondents).

13 responses (16%) came from businesses that do not hold IP, and 2 respondents (2%) did not know if their business holds any IP.

Question 13: Does your business licence rights to use a third party’s IP?

15 respondents were invited to answer this question, those who answered ‘no’ and ‘don’t know’ to question 12 on whether their business holds IP. Of these respondents, only 1 answered that they license rights to use a third party’s IP. Of the other 14 respondents, 12 answered that they do not license rights to use a third party’s IP, and 2 didn’t know.

Question 14: Please select the types of IP protections your business holds.

Please select the types of IP protections your business holds
Trade Mark	36	53%
Copyright (including literary works, film and music recordings, and non-literary works such as software, web content, and databases)	35	51%
Trade Secrets (for example, confidential information)	29	43%
Granted Patent (including supplementary protection certificates)	19	28%
Unregistered Trade Mark	16	24%
Unregistered Designs	13	19%
Published patent application	12	18%
Registered Designs	11	16%

All 68 respondents that reported holding IP answered this question. Respondents were able to select multiple options. 46 respondents gave more than one answer, indicating that they hold more than one type of IP right.

Registered trade marks and copyright were the most common IP rights reportedly held by survey respondents, each held by over half of the respondents with IP. Designs (unregistered and registered) and published patent applications that have not yet reached grant stage, were the least commonly reported IP rights held by survey respondents.

Of the 68 survey respondents with IP, registered trade marks are held by 53% (36 respondents), copyrights are held by 51% (35 respondents), trade secrets are held by 43% (29 respondents), granted patents are held by 28% (19 respondents), unregistered trade marks are held by 24% (16 respondents), unregistered designs are held by 19% (13 respondents), published patent applications are held by 18% (12 respondents), and registered designs are held by 16% (11 respondents).

A quarter of survey respondents with IP (17 respondents) hold 2 types of IP rights, 21% (14 respondents) hold 3 types of IP rights, and 22% (15 respondents) hold more than 3 types of IP rights. The most commonly combined IP rights were copyright and trade secret – 19 respondents (28%) held both of these rights.

Question 15: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement: My business has a strategy for how to identify, protect and extract value from its current IP assets or those it may create in the future.

Strongly agree	39	47%
Agree	16	19%
Neutral	21	25%
Disagree	4	5%
Strongly disagree	3	4%

All respondents to the survey answered this question. Almost half of the 83 businesses surveyed (47%) strongly agreed that they have a strategy for how to identify, protect and extract value from their current IP assets or those they may create in the future, and a further 16 respondents (19%) agreed with this statement.

Findings were similar for the 68 respondents that currently hold IP, with half (34 respondents) strongly agreeing with the statement, and 12 respondents (18%) agreeing. Within both the group of current IP holders, and those that do not currently hold IP, a quarter responded neutrally.

Only 7% of current IP holders (5 out of 68 respondents) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, indicating a lack of strategy to identify, protect and extract value from their IP. All of these respondents hold unregistered IP rights – 5 hold copyrights, 2 hold unregistered designs and 2 hold trade secrets. The other 2 respondents that disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement do not currently hold IP.

Optional: please see below if you would like to provide reasoning for your answer [free text answers]

30 out of 83 respondents chose to provide reasoning for their answer to question 16:

• 20 respondents that agreed or strongly agreed to having an IP strategy in place gave reasoning for their answer. 4 include revenue generation from licensing and/or sale of their IP within their IP strategy. One said they would not be in business if they did not protect their IP. One said experience and know-how is crucial to their IP strategy. One said the 30-month priority period to file PCT patents nationally is too short and hinders their strategy

• 7 respondents that responded neutrally to having an IP strategy in place gave reasoning for their answer. 2 have a strategy that they have not formalised. 2 have strategies that are not working, one due to cost and complexity of protecting their IP, and one due to lack of funding. 1 has a strategy for identification and protection but lacks a strategy for extracting value. 1 is still looking into how to register their IP. 1 focuses on knowledge dissemination

• 3 respondents that disagreed or strongly disagreed to having an IP strategy in place gave reasoning for their answer. One said they are good at identifying potential IP, but not having a formalised process that staff can follow to protect it. One said they had not given this sufficient attention. One said they do not currently hold IP and they are not looking to acquire any

Question 16: Has IP affected your business growth to date, and if so, how?

All respondents to the survey answered this question, however answers are shown only for respondents that previously answered that they either hold IP (68 respondents) or do not hold IP but license third party IP (1 respondent). Of these respondents:

• over half (41 respondents, 59%) answered that IP has positively affected their business growth to date

• 13 respondents (19%) have observed no effect of IP on their business growth

• 10 respondents (14%) don’t know how IP has affected their business growth

• 5 respondents (7%) have observed a negative effect of their IP on their business growth

Respondents were not asked to give further detail on their answer. However, elsewhere in the survey, the respondents that answered that IP has negatively affected their business growth mentioned the following:

• one respondent has experienced IP infringement from copycat websites based overseas, finding enforcement of their rights to be time-intensive and costly

• one respondent lacks financial means to enforce their IP rights

• one respondent is finding that their IP strategy is not working, due to lack of funding and investment

• one respondent, a holder of registered designs and unregistered trade mark, rents their business premises and so is limited from making changes inside

Question 17: In the last three years, has your business tried to assess the value of its IP?

Of the 69 respondents to the survey that hold or license IP, more than a third (25 respondents, 36%) have tried to assess the value of their IP. Most (41 respondents, 59%) have not tried, and 3 respondents (4%) do not know if they have tried to assess the value of their IP.

Respondents were not asked what type of IP right or rights they have tried to value. As over two thirds of respondents with IP hold multiple types of rights, this is not possible to work out from the data.

One respondent that has tried to assess the value of its IP gave further information: that they were quoted £6,000 for a valuation report, which was unaffordable for their business.

Question 18: Do you assess the value of your IP on an annual basis?

Of the 25 respondents that have tried to assess the value of their IP in the last 5 years, 6 respondents assess the value of their IP on an annual basis (9% of respondents that hold or licence IP). The remaining 19 respondents do not assess the value of their IP on an annual basis

Question 19: Have you engaged the services of a professional valuer or third party to assess your IP?

Of the 25 respondents that have tried to assess the value of their IP in the last 5 years, 7 (28%) have engaged the services of a professional valuer or third party to assess their IP.

This means, of the 69 survey respondents that hold or license IP, 10% have engaged these services to assess the value of their IP.

Question 20: Why have you sought to assess your IP value in the past?

Sale or licensing of IP	13	52%
Management purposes	11	44%
Raising finance (for example, investment)	10	40%
Sale or acquisition of a company	5	20%
Commercial disputes and litigation	3	12%
Transfer pricing	2	8%
Other	2	8%

Respondents could provide multiple answers to this question. Of the 25 respondents that have tried to assess the value of their IP in the last three years, the most common reasons given were for the sale or licensing of IP (13 respondents, 52%), management purposes (11 respondents, 44%), and for raising finance (10 respondents, 40%).

Less common reasons given by respondents included the sale or acquisition of a company (5 respondents, 20%), commercial disputes or litigation (3 respondents, 12%), and transfer pricing (2 respondents, 8%). 2 respondents gave ‘other’ reasons: one sought an IP valuation assessment to correct their balance sheet, and the other wanted to consider the value of having IP.

Section 3: IP and Business Finance

Question 21: Has your business applied for external finance in the last three years?

Yes	30	36%
No	50	60%
Prefer not to say	3	4%

Of the 83 survey respondents, over a third (30 respondents, 36%) have applied for external finance in the last three years, most (50 respondents, 60%) have not done so, and 3 respondents (4%) preferred not to say.

Of the 69 survey respondents that hold or license IP, 38% (26 respondents) have applied for external finance in the last three years. In comparison, of the 14 survey respondents that do not hold or license IP, or do not know if they hold or license IP, 29% (4 out of 14 respondents) have applied for external finance in the last three years.

Respondents that hold a granted patent and/or published patent application were the most likely to report using external finance. Of these 22 respondents, 58% (13 respondents) have used external finance in the last 3 years.

Respondents that hold at least one of the following unregistered rights: unregistered trade mark, trade secret, or copyright, were least likely to report having used external finance, with 25%, 28% and 31% of these respondents reporting use, respectively.

Of the 30 respondents that have used external finance, more than half (17 respondents) strongly agreed, and more than a quarter (8 respondents) agreed that their business has a strategy in place for identifying, protecting and extracting value from their current IP assets or those they may create in future, in answer to earlier question 16.

Question 22: Please select the types of external finance your business has used.

Respondents could provide multiple answers to this question. Of the 30 survey respondents that have applied for external finance in the last 3 years:

• over half (53%, 16 respondents) have used a government or local authority grant (non-covid related)

• over a third (37%, 11 respondents) have used equity investment (for example, from a business angel or venture capitalist)

• almost a third (27%, 9 respondents) have used loans from family or friends

• almost a quarter (23%, 7 respondents) have used a bank loan

• 5 respondents (17%) have used bank overdrafts or credit cards

• 2 respondents (7%) have used crowdfunding or peer to peer finance

• 5 respondents provided ‘other’ responses: 2 have used the Covid-related Bounce Back Loan scheme; 2 have been refused external finance (one a bank loan, the other private equity investment); and 1 has used a hire purchase finance plan

Most respondents that have used external finance have only used one type (13 respondents). 7 respondents had used two types, and 8 respondents have used more than two types.

Question 23: What was your reason for using external finance?

Respondents were able to provide multiple answers to this question. The 30 respondents that have applied for external finance in the last three years gave the following reasons:

• 16 respondents (53%) use external finance to invest in research and development (R&D)

• 12 respondents (40%) use external finance for working capital

• 12 respondents (40%) use external finance to invest in business growth

• 5 respondents (17%) use external finance for purchase of assets

• 4 respondents provided “other” responses; with 2 stating they sought external finance to secure funds for manufacturing purposes, 1 respondent to pay patent portfolio fees and 1 respondent to cover the impact on their business due to not being covered by business interruption insurance

Of the 16 respondents that used external finance to invest in R&D, 11 (69%) had received government grants, 8 (50%) had received equity investment, and 3 (19%) had received bank loans.

Of the 12 respondents that used external finance to invest in business growth, 8 (67%) had received government grants, 6 (50%) had received equity finance, and 3 (25%) had received bank loans.

Question 24: Do you feel that the IP assets you own or use have affected your ability to raise finance, and if so, how?

Positively	11	37%
No effect	8	27%
Negatively	2	7%
Don’t Know	4	13%
Not applicable	5	17%

Of the 30 respondents that have applied for external finance in the last three years, 37% (11 respondents) answered that they felt the IP assets they own or use have positively affected their ability to raise finance.

• 7 out of 11 respondents that received equity finance (64%) answered that they felt their IP assets had positively affected their ability to raise finance. This mirrors recent research by EPO-EUIPO (2023)^{[footnote 3]} , which found that European start-up businesses with registered IP are more likely to be successful raising venture capital investment.

• 8 out of 14 respondents with a granted patent or published patent application that have sought external finance (57%) answered that they felt their IP assets had positively affected their ability to raise finance.

• 6 out of 13 respondents with a registered trade mark that have sought external finance (46%) answered that they felt their IP assets had positively affected their ability to raise finance

Just over a quarter of respondents that have applied for external finance in the last three years answered that they feel the IP assets they own or use have had no effect on their ability to raise finance (8 respondents, 27%).

Only 2 respondents answered that their IP assets have negatively affected their ability to raise finance. One of these respondents was refused a bank loan, and the other has relied on bank overdrafts and credit cards for external finance.

Question 25: Please select your reasons for not using external finance.

Of the 50 respondents not using external finance, the majority (34 respondents, 68%) gave the reason that they don’t need any external financing at this present time.

8 respondents (16%) lack security or collateral to offer a finance provider. 6 respondents (12%) have not been able to find an investor who is a good fit. 3 respondents (6%) don’t have the right information to decide or plan. 1 respondent (2%) were not able to get the right terms for a deal or loan. 8 respondents (16%) gave ‘other’ reasons for not using external finance, including:

• not seeking external finance at the present time (3 respondents)

• lack of a trusted source (1 respondent)

• not ready to expand (1 respondent)

• lack of commercial track record to satisfy lenders (1 respondent)

• would not be able to repay a loan given the current high interest rate (1 respondent)

• perceiving it to be pointless to take external finance under the current ‘system’ (1 respondent)

Question 26: In the last three years, have you used your IP in any of the below ways?

Of the respondents who hold or license IP (69 respondents):

• 22 respondents (32%) have used IP in a pitch to attract an investor or investment into their firm

• 13 respondents (19%) have licensed IP rights to a third party

• none have sold IP rights to a third party

• 1 respondent (1%) has used IP as security or collateral for a bank loan

• over half (37 respondents, 54%) have not used their IP in any of the above ways

5 respondents gave more than one answer, all of whom had used IP in a pitch to attract investment, and licensed IP rights to a third party, in the last three years.

Optional: please see below if you would like to provide reasoning for your answer [free text answers]

4 of the 22 respondents that have used their IP in a pitch to attract investment chose to give additional information:

• 1 respondent said that IP in pharmaceutical products has provided new opportunities to secure funding to grow the company

• 1 respondent said IP, especially granted utility patents, are highly regarded by investors

• 1 respondent said they have demonstrated capabilities using their IP

• 1 respondent said they lack proof of their IP, meaning it has limited value

6 of the 37 respondents that have not used their IP in any of the ways identified in question 27 gave the following reasons:

• 1 respondent is looking to use their IP in a deal soon

• 1 respondent is in the process of selling their company that holds IP

• 1 respondent lacks information on how to value their IP, and how to access bank funding using their IP as collateral

• 1 respondent said they use their IP for protection only

• 1 respondent said their products have not been successful in the market

• 1 respondent chose not to continue an audit of their IP

Question 27: Would you be interested in the potential to use your IP assets as collateral (security) for a loan?

	Currently hold IP
Yes	23	34%
No	24	35%
Don’t Know	21	31%

Of the 68 respondents that currently hold IP, just over a third (23 respondents, 34%) are interested in the potential to use their IP assets as collateral (security) for a loan. Almost the same number of respondents were not interested (24 respondents, 35%) or did not know (21 respondents, 31%).

Question 28: Are you aware of government tax relief for corporate profits linked to patented inventions (“patent box”)?

All respondents to the survey answered this question:

• 9 out of 22 respondents that currently hold a published patent application or granted patent (41%) were aware of the patent box

• 22 out of 61 respondents that do not currently hold a published patent application or granted patent (36%) were aware of the patent box

Section 4: IP insurance

Question 29: Do you or your business have IP insurance (either as a standalone policy or part of a wider insurance package)?

All 83 survey respondents answered this question. 10 respondents have IP insurance (12%), 67 do not have IP insurance (81%), and 6 do not know if they have IP insurance (7%).

Of the 67 respondents that do not have IP insurance, 15 have considered or are considering taking IP insurance, and 1 has had IP insurance in the past.

Of the 10 respondents that have IP insurance, 6 hold multiple IP rights (5 hold trade secrets, 4 hold granted patents, 4 hold copyright, 4 hold unregistered designs, 3 hold registered designs, and 2 hold registered trade marks). 2 respondents hold only granted patents, 1 respondent holds only copyright, and 1 respondent does not hold or license IP.

Section 4.1 Respondents who have IP insurance

Question 30: How did you find out about IP insurance?

Only the 10 respondents who hold IP insurance answered this question. Respondents could select multiple answers to reflect how they found out about IP insurance:

• 5 respondents (50%) heard through an insurance broker

• 3 respondents (30%) heard through a third-party advisor (accountant, legal advisor, or IP professional)

• 3 respondents (30%) heard through conducting personal research.

• 1 respondent (10%) received advice from public innovation advisors

• 1 respondent (10%) heard through a roadshow, webinar, roundtable or event

• 1 respondent (10%) gave an ‘other’ answer: they looked into IP insurance due to feeling let down by their business insurance cover

Question 31: In purchasing IP insurance did you consult the information about IP insurance on GOV.UK?

Of the 10 survey respondents that hold IP insurance, 2 consulted the information available on gov.uk (20%), 7 did not (70%), and 1 respondent did not know if they had.

Question 32: What is the coverage of the IP insurance your business currently holds?

Insurance to pursue IP infringements	6	60%
Insurance to defend against allegations of IP infringement	5	50%
Insurance to cover IP invalidation and/or opposition proceedings	3	30%
Other	2	20%

This question was answered by the 10 respondents that hold IP insurance. Multiple answers could be provided.

4 of the 10 respondents gave multiple answers. These respondents all had insurance cover for both enforcement (pursuing IP infringements) and defence (against allegations of IP infringement), and 2 of these respondents are additionally covered for IP invalidation and/or opposition proceedings.

The other 6 respondents selected one type of coverage only. 2 respondents have IP insurance that covers pursuit of IP infringements only, and 1 respondent has IP insurance that covers defence against allegations of IP infringement only. 2 respondents answered that their insurance provides ‘other’ coverage not listed. This included the respondent that does not hold or licence IP, who further specified that they hold professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

The most common type of coverage, reported by 6 of the 10 respondents, was insurance to pursue IP infringements.

Question 33: What is the geographical coverage of your IP insurance?

Respondents to this question were invited to answer whether they have geographical coverage of IP insurance in:

• UK

• UK/Europe

• worldwide (excluding USA)

• worldwide (including USA)

• other

6 of the 10 respondents (60%) who have IP insurance have worldwide (including USA) geographical coverage. 2 respondents (20%) have UK only coverage. 1 respondent (10%) has UK / Europe coverage, and 1 respondent (10%) has worldwide (excluding USA) coverage.

Question 34: What was your reason for taking out IP insurance?

This question was answered by the 10 respondents to the survey that hold IP insurance. Multiple answers could be provided. The following reasons were given for taking out IP insurance:

• to defend against future allegations of infringement (5 respondents, 50%)

• to enforce their IP in case of future infringement (4 respondents, 40%)

• due to a perceived risk or cost of litigation (4 respondents, 40%)

• contractual requirement to enter into a license (3 respondents, 30%)

• to make their business more attractive to investors (3 respondents, 30%)

• to support confidence to export abroad (2 respondents, 20%)

• IP insurance is included in a wider insurance policy they have purchased (2 respondents, 20%)

• use insurance as a deterrent to potential infringers (2 respondents, 20%) The one respondent that does not hold or licence IP, and holds IP insurance, gave their reasons as the perceived risk or cost of litigation, and for confidence exporting abroad

Question 35: How did you find the process of taking out IP insurance?

Of the 10 respondents that currently hold IP insurance, most found the process of taking out IP insurance to be easy (5 respondents, 50%) or very easy (2 respondents, 20%). 2 respondents (20%) found it neither easy nor difficult and 1 respondent (10%) found it difficult.

The 1 respondent who found the process of taking out IP insurance difficult provided additional reasoning for their answer, explaining that insurance companies are averse to SMEs, a situation they believe requires government intervention/support.

Question 36: Have you ever claimed under your IP insurance policy?

Of the 10 respondents that currently hold IP insurance, only 1 respondent has made a claim under their IP insurance policy. The remaining 9 respondents stated they have not made a claim under their policy.

Question 37: Do you find it worthwhile to have IP insurance?

All 10 respondents that currently hold IP insurance answered that they find it worthwhile to have IP insurance.

2 respondents provided additional reasoning for their answer. 1 respondent explained that having IP insurance brings them peace of mind and demonstrates business integrity. The other respondent explained that having IP insurance allows them to sleep at night, though they believe they are at low risk of any issues.

Question 38: Do you plan to renew your IP insurance policy?

All 10 respondents that currently hold IP insurance answered they plan to renew their IP insurance policy.

Section 4.2 Respondents who do not have IP insurance

Question 39: Prior to this survey, were you aware of IP insurance?  

The 57 respondents that answered ‘no’ or ‘don’t know’ to question 29 were invited to answer this question.

A quarter (14 respondents, 25%) were aware of IP insurance before completing the survey, and the remaining 43 respondents (75%) were not aware of IP insurance.

Question 40: Why have you chosen not to purchase an IP insurance policy?

Low perceived likelihood of litigation	10	33%
Unfamiliar with IP insurance providers or products	10	33%
IP insurance is not a priority and/or necessary for my business	7	23%
IP insurance products are too costly	4	13%
I don’t have IP	4	13%
IP insurance products are too complex	2	7%
IP insurance products do not offer appropriate coverage	2	7%
I have been refused IP insurance coverage in the past	0	0%
Other	3	10%

This question was answered by 30 respondents that have either considered taking IP insurance in the past, have held IP insurance in the past but not anymore, or who do not hold IP insurance, but are aware of it. Respondents could give more than one reason for why they do not hold IP insurance.

The most common reasons for not purchasing IP insurance among these respondents was low perceived likelihood of litigation, and unfamiliarity with providers or products. Each of these answers were selected by a third of the respondents to this question (10 respondents).

Other reasons given included IP insurance not being a priority and/or necessity for their business (7 respondents, 23%), IP insurance being too costly (4 respondents, 13%), not holding IP (4 respondents, 13%), IP insurance products being too complex (2 respondents, 7%), or not offering the appropriate coverage (2 respondents, 7%). 3 respondents provided ‘Other’ responses:

• 1 respondent is awaiting a contract to distribute their products to sell in stores, once this is in place, they will buy IP insurance

• 1 respondent is a lawyer and will sue infringers themselves

• 1 respondent says that other than specific instances, they do not believe IP insurance has proved useful to policyholders over recent decades

Question 41: How is your business managing risks associated with IP (i.e. risk of your IP assets being infringed, or risk of others claiming your business activities constitute infringement of their IP rights)?

All 73 respondents who do not have IP insurance were invited to answer this question, and 46 gave relevant responses. This question was open, meaning respondents could provide multiple answers in free text. Similar answers have been grouped where possible, to show how many respondents raised each view or suggestion.

11 respondents answered that they are not managing risks associated with their IP, with two elaborating that they lack resource to do so. 4 respondents answered only that they have an awareness of potential risks, and 2 respondents assess the overall risks as limited or small.

The remaining 29 respondents answered that their business uses the following methods to manage risks associated with IP:

• conducting own research of the relevant markets, IP databases and social media, to manage IP assets being infringed (8 respondents)

• keeping IP a secret (3 respondents). One respondent uses non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)

• using copyright contract clauses (3 respondents)

• using third party sources to evaluate and manage risk (3 respondents)

• using the respondent’s own IP expertise to manage risk (3 respondents)

• marking copyright on materials, for example using a watermark (2 respondents)

• having an IP-holding subsidiary within the corporate structure (2 respondents)

• using collaboration agreements (2 respondents)

• using a trade mark watching service (1 respondent)

• issuing an external specialist in verification to issue certificates of authenticity (1 respondent)

• calling out infringers on social media to damage their reputation (1 respondent)

Question 42: Would you consider taking out IP insurance in the future?

This question was asked of all respondents that did not answer that they currently have IP insurance (73 respondents, 30%).

Over two thirds (51 respondents, 70%) answered that they would consider taking out IP insurance in the future. Of those that answered that they would not (22 respondents), 15 hadn’t been aware of IP insurance before taking the survey.

Question 43: Is there anything that could persuade you to take out IP insurance in the future?

All 73 respondents who didn’t have IP insurance were invited to answer this question. This question was open, meaning respondents could provide multiple answers in free text. Similar answers have been grouped where possible, to show how many respondents raised each view or suggestion.

Of the 38 respondents that answered this question, 3 respondents provided answers which were not relevant to the question. 9 respondents stated there wasn’t anything that could persuade them to take out IP insurance in the future. 1 respondent answered being a small business IP insurance is not relevant to them and 1 respondent answered that having IP could persuade them to take out IP insurance in the future.

The remaining 24 respondents provided the following answers that could persuade them to take out IP insurance in the future:

• reduction in the cost of IP insurance (10 respondents)

• more awareness of what IP insurance is and what it offers (3 respondents)

• receipt of funding to obtain IP insurance (2 respondents)

• sufficient perceived risk of their IP being infringed (3 respondents)

• assessment and backing of IP insurance by the UK Government (1 respondent)

• robustness of protection offered (1 respondent)

• if they were able to sell their goods (2 respondents)

• client pressure for security (1 respondent)

Annex: Sample comparison to business population statistics

Figure 1: Comparison of survey sample by region to UK business population.

	Number of survey respondents	% of survey sample	UK business population (nearest thousand)*	% of business population
London	16	20%	526	19%
South East	15	19%	405	15%
South West	12	15%	237	9%
North West	10	12%	267	10%
East of England	7	9%	270	10%
Scotland	5	6%	171	6%
Yorkshire and The Humber	5	6%	192	7%
North East	3	4%	73	3%
East Midlands	3	4%	184	7%
Wales	3	4%	107	4%
West Midlands	2	2%	218	8%
Northern Ireland	0	-	78	3%
Total (UK-based)	81		2,728

*Source: Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) from the Office for National Statistics

Figure 2: Comparison of survey sample by company size to UK business population with IP.

Company Size	Number of survey respondents	% of survey sample	Estimated UK business population that uses IP protection (thousands)*	% of business population with IP*
1 employee	24	29%	1,439	66%
Micro (2-9 employees)	47	57%	541	25%
Small (10-49 employees)	8	10%	152	7%
Medium (50 - 249 employees)	1	1%	31	1%
Large (250 or more employees)	3	4%	8	0%
Total	83		2,170

*Estimated based on business population estimates for the UK and regions 2023^{[footnote 4]}, and use of IP protection by company size reported in the 2023 IP Awareness Survey.

Figure 3: Comparison of survey sample by industry to UK business population with IP.

	Number of survey respondents	% of survey sample	IP use*
Professional, scientific, and technical activities	17	20%	Medium
Other service activities	14	17%	Medium
Manufacturing	10	12%	High
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	7	8%	Medium
Information and communication	6	7%	Medium
Education	4	5%	Medium
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing	3	4%	Low
Financial and insurance activities	3	4%	Medium
Construction	3	4%	Low
Services sector	3	4%	Medium
Production	2	2%	High
Water supply, sewage, waste management, and remediation activities	2	2%	Low
Administrative and support service activities	2	2%	Low
Real estate activities	2	2%	Medium
Human health and social work activities	2	2%	Low
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	1	1%	Low
Transportation and storage	1	1%	Low
Electricity, gas, steam, and air condition supply	1	1%	Low
Total	83

*Source: Use of Intellectual Property rights across UK industries, 2022, published by UK Intellectual Property Office ^{[footnote 5]}.

**Note: Industries ranked as ‘high’ or ‘medium’ have an above average use of at least one IP right (patents, trade marks, registered designs or copyright). The ‘high’ use measure distinguishes those industries with noticeably higher IP usage that fall within the steeper part of the distribution. Industries ranked with ‘Low’ use of IP do not have at least one sub-industry with above average use of one of the IP rights.

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1. See Unlocking IP-Backed Financing Series – Country Perspectives: The United Kingdom’s Journey (wipo.int) ↩

2. Use of Intellectual Property rights across UK industries ↩

3. See Patents, trade marks and startup finance - EUIPO (europa.eu) ↩

4. Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2023: statistical release ↩

5. Use of Intellectual Property rights across UK industries ↩