You get IP rights when you are involved in inventing or creating something new or original. You can be the author, artist or inventor. You may also be an employer or someone who pays money to the author or artist or inventor to create something for you. You can even be a businessman using a brand name or trade mark which is recognized by your customers as your goods and services. If your IP rights are registrable, such as inventions and trade marks, you should register them.

Where they cannot be registered, such as copyright and confidential information, you should send copies of your work to another person, preferably a recognized professional or organization, to independently "mark out “the date of creation as evidence if there are future disputes.

If your IP rights are properly registered or protected, nobody else can copy or use your work as though it belongs to them; or make a profit from it without your consent.

To properly register or protect your IP rights in your work, you should consult a lawyer specializing in IP.

DO NOT start showing, demonstrating, trying to sell or get sponsorship BEFORE your work is finished or registered. If you do, people can take advantage of your incomplete work by hiring other professionals or artists to correct your mistakes and complete the work ahead of you. When that happens, they may have better ownership rights than you.

BEFOREYOU SHOW YOUR WORK, ask for a written promise that whoever sees your work will keep it secret and not disclose what he/she saw or know about it to anyone else unless you have agreed in writing.