hi all,

me and my business partner are in the process of starting up a business, manufacturing a product in the UK. there is a place for it, we have done our research, have a business plan etc. we have been in discussions with a manufacturer of the components of our product, and its at the stage where the idea is beginning to be turned into a prototype.
now the questions i have, is we need to begin to write contracts, interlectual property rights, drawings etc.
what we would like is for us to own the product, but the component manufaturers to be the sole suppliers for us..
what are the minimum requirements needed? who is best to speak to (solicitor is the obvious)
as we have jointly been fine tuning the prototype, would both us and the manufacturers legally own the product rights? could they legally own the drawings of the components without them owning rights to the product.?
we seem to have hit a complete minefield. though to someone it must be simple, after all, Apple don't make their own iphones!

please help!! i don't want to get to the point where we get screwed over basically..

many thanks in advance