The credit crisis and economic downturn has seen a jump in court cases involving patents, trademarks and copyrights as business owners become more aware of the need to protect their assets.

According to the latest UK judicial statistics, copyright infringement claims jumped by 83 per cent last year.

There were 422 intellectual property cases in 2007, up from 230 in 2006, according to Judicial Statistics, the official records body. Small businesses that own copyrights and trademarks are also included in the statistics.

Tom Ferrand, director of trademarks at IP21, an intellectual property advisory service said during a downturn, companies start looking over their shoulder and enforce their rights against others rather than taking a forward – looking attitude and saying what new products can be launched.

Rising redundancies are likely to fuel the need for legal protection of intellectual property as people take sensitive information with them when they lose their jobs.

Protecting business copyright, trademarks and customer databases is vital because they are in effect the lifeblood of many businesses especially small businesses.