Guidance

Track 2: Legal Considerations for Intellectual Property

Published 2 December 2025

STRENGTHING LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE 

KEY LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 

This document is intended as a general overview from a legal perspective of some of the key IP considerations that are likely to be faced by startups. This list of considerations is not intended to be exhaustive. 

Intellectual property (IP) is especially important for space sector start-ups because it safeguards the unique technologies, innovations and know-how that provide a competitive advantage and attract investors. 

The considerations set out herein are governed by English law and are only appropriate for private limited companies registered (or to be registered) in England and Wales. While every effort has been made to ensure the information is accurate and up to date as of 1 October 2025, UK legislation and associated regulations are subject to change. 

It is not possible to provide comprehensive advice on the matters that may apply in the particular circumstances of your business. This document does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. 

Users are strongly advised to seek independent legal advice before undertaking any further action. 

1. First steps 

Undertake clearance searches to check that your chosen name/logo does not conflict with pre-existing third party rights 

The most relevant third party rights are earlier “registered” or “unregistered” trade mark rights, although these are not the only rights that may apply to your business. 

You must make sure that your proposed name/logo is sufficiently different to pre-existing registered trade marks for identical or similar goods and unregistered names/logos used by other businesses. 

You must also make sure that your name/logo could not be said to be taking unfair advantage of, or being detrimental to the distinctive character or reputation of a pre-existing well known trade mark (whether or not registered in the UK). 

It is advisable to get official clearance searches undertaken and assessed by a qualified practitioner in each territory where you operate (or plan to operate). At this stage, it is also important to check whether there is a suitable domain name available that relates to your chosen business name. 

Register your trading name, key brand or product names and any logos 

Consider registering your main trading name and key product and brand names or logos as trade marks in jurisdictions where you will be marketing or have the most business activities and dealings. This is to help to protect them from being appropriated by third parties. Merely having registered a company name provides little protection for the name. 

Businesses who intend to operate both in the EU and the UK should consider registering both EU and UK trade marks to protect themselves in both jurisdictions. You also need to decide what goods and services to register your mark in relation to. We recommend you seek legal assistance in registering trade marks, to make sure you get the right protection to suit your business. 

Register domain names 

Domain names should be registered in the name of the company and not the name of the individual who made the application. 

Consider registering potential variants of your main domain name, for example, common typing error variants. As domain names are relatively cheap you can consider registering a number of these. Once registered by another person, it can be difficult to recover the domain name from the third party. 

A domain name is commonly registered through a domain name registrar. There are a number of registrars offering domain name registration, and they can offer a variety of services at different prices. A full list of accredited registrars can be located on the ICANN website. 

Ensure that your company is the owner of IP used by your business 

As a general rule, except where you are using third parties’ IP under licence, all IP that is being used by your company should be owned by your company. 

Ensure that any individuals or contractors you hire transfer their IP rights in their work they are doing and materials related to it to your company. This can be through appropriate terms and conditions being included in an employment contract, commissioning or consultancy agreements or by a separate assignment. 

Where you are using rights that cannot be assigned, make sure that your company is given a sufficiently wide licence to use these rights by the rights owner. 

Do not disclose confidential information, new designs, ideas or inventions without appropriate protection in place 

As a rule, confidential information can no longer be protected once it is in the public domain. If you disclose a design, you will not be able to obtain registered design protection for it (subject to a one year grace period in certain circumstances). If you disclose an invention before you apply for patent, you will no longer be able to obtain patent protection. 

You can avoid losing protection by disclosing the design, idea, invention or other confidential information to another person under the protection of a non-disclosure agreement. 

We recommend seeking legal advice before disclosing the information and for preparation of the agreement. Also consider what practical steps you can take to protect information (such as only showing a copy of the document to the other person, not providing a copy to them). 

2. Protecting your business IP 

Registering your business IP 

There are a number of types of IP that can be registered which include trade marks, design rights and patents. Design rights can be used to protect graphical user interfaces (GUIs) as well as the appearance of real world products. 

It is worthwhile considering IP registrations from the early stages of any business, and developing an IP filing strategy, as many jurisdictions operate a “first to file” registration system. Also, as noted earlier, you may lose the possibility of obtaining any protection if you do not register the IP before you disclose your design or invention to the public. 

You should take steps to register IP in jurisdictions that are relevant to your business (which may include jurisdictions where potential competitors are likely to operate). Which rights are important will vary depending on the nature of the business in question. However, registration is crucial to protect, effectively use and exploit IP. 

Don’t forget patents 

Patents protect technical inventions. They must be novel, involve an inventive step and be industrially applicable. 

There is a common misconception that patents cannot be obtained in the UK in relation to software or business methods. Whilst it is fair to say it is not as easy to get patents for software or business methods as it in the US, it is still possible to obtain a patent where, broadly, the invention has a “technical effect” and the other usual requirements for patentability are met. Examples of patents that have been considered to be patentable in principle (although they may have fallen down on normal patenting grounds) include Apple’s “swipe to unlock” and multi-touch features. 

Protecting your unregistered business IP 

Certain IP rights in the UK can arise automatically, such as copyright and unregistered design rights. 

Where you have designed or created something, it is important to ensure that the documents evidence precisely what you have designed or created, and the date of creation, and that these documents are retained. Sufficient detail of the creation or design process should be kept to support your claim to own the right and to establish the extent of the right you own, and the date from which protection of the right exists. Documents should be dated and identify who contributed to the work. 

Use trade mark symbols, and use them correctly 

Whilst it is not necessary to use a trade mark symbol to obtain protection, it can be helpful both to deter third parties from using the mark and to help build up its distinctiveness as an indicator of the trade origin of your goods or services. 

Where you have a registered trade mark you can use the ® symbol to show that the mark is registered. Note, however, that it is an offence to use this symbol where a mark is not registered. 

Where you are using a brand name that is unregistered you can use the symbol TM. 

You can also include a trade mark notice on your goods, website or marketing materials stating that “[your mark] is a registered trade mark of [your company name]”. 

Use copyright symbols 

As copyright is an unregistered right in the UK, it can be particularly useful to include a copyright symbol on your goods, website and marketing materials to put third parties on notice of your rights. 

For individual works, you can use the © symbol as follows: “© [your company name] [year work created]” 

Watching services 

Put in place a trade mark, domain name and company name watch service so that you can be informed of any third parties which apply to register names and logos which conflict with yours. You can also watch for infringements of your brand and services online and on social media. That way, you can be informed of any potential conflicts at an early stage and address them head on where appropriate. 

3. Avoiding infringements 

Ensure that your company has the necessary IP licences for its activities 

Where your company uses IP rights which it does not own, you should also make sure that your company has necessary licences in place. Ensure that the terms of this licence are sufficiently wide to cover the use you are making and any potential future use you might like to make of these rights. 

It is important to keep a record of licences that you have, and to monitor that you are keeping within the terms of the licences. For example, a licence may be limited in terms of the number of users, geographical scope or what use you can make of the licensed IP. 

The geographical dimension 

Bear in mind that you can be considered to be carrying out potentially infringing activities in a country even if you are not based there e.g. if you have a website and make sales through that website to a particular jurisdiction, even though your website is not primarily targeted at that jurisdiction. 

Hyperlinking 

It is important that you do not link to or embed content which you know or suspect infringes copyright. Include an appropriate disclaimer in your website terms and conditions. Only link to or embed content which you are very confident is on the relevant site with the authorisation of the copyright owner, and is not behind a paywall. Take down links to content which you are notified infringes someone’s rights. 

Open source 

Open source is now far more mainstream (e.g. the UK government has a presumption in favour of open source) and there is less fear and uncertainty regarding the combination of open and proprietary code. 

There still remain a number of ”open source myths”, such as “you can’t use open source in the proprietary environment”. Open source can be used in the proprietary environment, but to do so, careful consideration needs to be given to the risks so as to ensure that no unintended consequences are created through the combination of various aspects of free and open source software (FOSS) and proprietary code through the inheritance of FOSS licence restrictions. 

Irrespective of the use of open source, the risk remains that use of unlicensed software could infringe someone else’s rights. The risk is amplified where proprietary and open source software are combined. If licensed correctly, open and propriety code can sit alongside each other. However, the licensing approaches for open source vary meaning that in some cases unintended consequences arise from modifications made to open source software, and from the combination of open source and proprietary code. If open source software is incorporated into your business software, be mindful of what effect the particular open source software licence(s) have on the subsequent use or licensing of amendments, improvements and adaptations of the software (or combinations of open source and other software) and take legal advice on this. 

Failure to do so could act as a brake on the ability to sell potentially contaminated products because buyers feel they risk contamination themselves. The risk is a real risk and can affect the value of a deal. In addition, there is the risk of enforcement action by groups such as the free software foundation. 

Advertising 

If your business involves advertising or you are making advertising statements (for example on your website), or if you are organising sales promotions, you should be careful that statements and advertising or marketing meet requirements of the CAP Code and BCAP Code for broadcasting, where relevant. These Codes are enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and are quite detailed. In relation to advertising in other jurisdictions, there are a number of regimes to consider, with particular nuances in different jurisdictions.

This information is a non-exhaustive summary of some of the factors which may be relevant to seeking investment in the space sector. Persons should take independent legal and professional advice before seeking any such investment.