TABLE OF CONTENTS Engineers are natural innovators, whether they are involved in the basic development of a completely new system, or in making an existing system work better.
Engineers and scientists [1] are frequently willing to share their skills and ideas with others. Unfortunately, they sometimes find that others are less than willing to give appropriate credit or share the profits that can be made from these skills and ideas. Having one's idea stolen is an unhappy situation, but not an infrequent one.
This is where the law comes in, like it or not and many engineers do not like the concept of legal controls on ideas at all. But we all need salaries or consultancy fees. If our work does not result in saleable products or services, then we as engineers will suffer financially. Our employers and work-providers need to make profits, and legally protecting the innovative efforts of engineers is one way of assisting this. The innovator, be it individual or company, should benefit from the investment of time, effort and money.
What is good for the individual engineer and company is also good for the country as a whole. The value of innovation to the UK is often given an airing by politicians, and the latest financial support is set out in the Sainsbury Report of 2004, which provides information about a 50 million grant programme for technological innovation. The law to protect such innovation is already in place and a basic knowledge can provide a good...
