What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual properties are protected by copyrights, trademarks and patents. By copyrighting, trademarking, and patenting, the holder of the abstract property retains exclusive rights to it under intellectual property law.

Examples of intellectual property include:

• Music
• Literature
• Artistic works
• Inventions
• Symbols
• Names
• Images
• Designs

Intellectual property rights apply to both artistic and commercial properties. Copyrights protect the artistic side, giving the copyright holder control over reproduction or adaptation of the artistic work.

Industrial properties are the collective commercial properties aforementioned. They are called industrial properties because they are primarily used for industrial or commercial purposes. These are covered by patents and patent law. A patent is generally granted for an invention that is new, useful, and non-obvious.

Signs, symbols and names can be trademarked. This is done in order to prevent confusion between products on the market. In addition to the patented object, the design of the commercial object is protected under industrial design rights.

While all of the above ideas are open to the public, there are also trade secrets. These are items of non-public information which concern the proprietary knowledge of a business. They are not meant to be seen by the public, so disclosure of these can sometimes be illegal.

Contact a Patent Litigation Lawyer Today

If you would like to know more about intellectual property, please contact the patent litigation lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 800.761.3187.