Bradford businesses could be losing out to competitors - simply by not protecting their intellectual property rights.
Intellectual property is classed as ideas, brand names or inventions, and a survey of Yorkshire businesses shows more than three-quarters of firms have no way of telling if their trade mark has been used by rivals.
While these companies feel they should protect themselves against competitors, only 45 percent have a system to identify when they need to seek patent protection.
The research was carried out for Leeds-based patent and trade mark attorneys Marks and Clarks.
Keith Hodkinson, managing partner, said: "New ideas and inventions can often be protected by a patent, and it is important to address protection issues early in the development process."
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