Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Northern Ireland may have to visit solicitors more often than larger firms for getting into bother over intellectual property.

People setting up a small business in Northern Ireland may have recourse to solicitors, as smaller enterprises tend to find copyright and patenting laws difficult to understand.

Simon Briault, press officer for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said intellectual property is an area that people may need solicitors' guidance on.

"It is a difficult area in that it's often quite expensive and complicated to do," he said.

"Intellectual property by its very nature is pretty elusive and difficult to pin down, and for small business owners who are just starting out it's often hard to do that because they're just concerned about their business. They've got a new business idea and that's what they're consumed with.

"But you do have to be careful about your intellectual property and make sure you look after it. In the early stages that's something that often small businesses find it hard to prioritise," he added.

Mr Briault conceded that it might be more important for online businesses to see they have sorted intellectual property issues out with their solicitors, as they leave themselves open to a much wider audience potentially.

He added that "the relationship between the business and the person looking at it is more distant", with someone not necessarily resident in Northern Ireland able to steal intellectual property from a website.



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