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Q. I am a design student, should I keep my work confidential and if yes how can this be done as it is becoming my portfolio but people are telling me some of the ideas are very good.
A. Confidentiality is very difficult to achieve in an academic environment, and in any case you want people to see your work. But it is only of importance to keep your ideas secret if they involve something which
might be patented, for example an inventive way of reorganising the components of an article which provides new and surprising advantages.
If you come up with an invention, then you need to keep it secret, or at least limited to those with whom you have a confidential relationship, until you have made an initial patent application (which can be simply a description of the idea and how to put it into practice - you don't even need to ask the Patent Offcie to search the case at this stage). Once you have made an application, it does not then adversely affect the
possibility of getting a patent if you then disclose the idea. But remember that you will need to take action to develop and progress the application by one year from filing it, so it's best to start working as soon as you have filed to see if the idea can be commercialised. If it can't be, then a patent is of little value, so should not be pursued.
If you need to discuss the invention with others before you file, then consider using a simple form of "confidentiality agreement", sometimes
called an "NDA" - non-disclosure agrement. The IPO website contains more on this, at www.ipo.gov.uk
