What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property can be both tangible, which can be touched and intangible, which may be an idea or concept. New and improved techniques, processes or formulas, exclusive name or logo for an enterprise can be intellectual property. New inventions or designs are generally protected by law under the guidelines of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret registrations. In some cases such as patents, the protection rights have restrictions, especially if the new item is linked with a previous invention. In this case the protection applies specifically to the new phase or segment of the intellectual property. Trademarks and publishing rights can change ownerships through business transactions.

Trademarks

Nationally known corporations with trademarked names and logos are recognized by the encircled R insignia. The registration assigns ownership to the entity and prevents other businesses from using the name or logo.

Trade Secrets

Trade secrets are methods or formulas that are unique to the entity alone for example; cookies recipes can be trade secrets. Although the ingredients are known the portions and measurements are the trade secret, which sets the particular cookie apart from all the other market brands.

Copyright

Copyrights protect works of arts created by an author, musical composer, and screen writers, generally the creator owns the ability to reproduce and distribute the creations. The copyright ownership rights extend from the initial work to the next generation, typically used in serial productions and creations.

Patent

Patents protect new inventions or processes and the improvements to a previous invention or process that wasn't included in the initial patent invention. Employees working with research may discover new solutions, normally the ownership of the discovery belongs to the company not to the employee by law.

Protections

Businesses work under the regulations of patents for intellectual property protection. Filing a patent prevents the property from being copied and used illegally. The limitation unfortunately, is that the patent protection laws extend only within the country of origin. Separate patents beyond the country of origin need to be filed to protect the patent. If the patent is an improvement to a previous patent owned by another, the new inventor must have authorization from the previous invention.

Trademark registrations protect a business from fraud duplication, where a reproduction with a slight change is made to the item. In the same instance, consumers learn to recognize a company's trademark and can identify a false product preventing a counterfeit sale. Trade secret registrations for formulas prevent the illegal use of the specific mixture and the use of the trademark and name. They do not prevent the creation of a similar product from being marketed in free enterprise.

Copyright protection covers all original works of art or creative developments by an author. The longevity of the ownership extends past the author's death and is not limited by state or country borders. Original owners or creators do sell their rights for distribution through a business entity; such as recording artists who develop musical works under a recording label.