Intellectual Property - Fast FAQs
What is intellectual property?
Intellectual property is subject to a variety of definitions. The definition used by the Intellectual Property Advisor is:
Creations of the mind with potential commercial value that are afforded legal protections under the laws governing copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secrets.
Can anyone own intellectual property?
Yes. Any individual, business, or other legal entity that is able to own any type of physical property can also own the rights associated with patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.
Can intellectual property be sold?
Yes, and no. Since intellectual property is actually the ownership of “rights,” the owner can assign those rights to someone else in return for payment. Whether that is considered a sale or a license may depend on the type of intellectual property and the extent of rights granted.
How can I acquire intellectual property?
You can either create it or buy it.
If you’ve ever written a story or an article, or created a drawing or painting, or taken a photograph, you’ve already created intellectual property. The law automatically grants you the exclusive copyright to any and all of your artistic creations. You can also obtain a patent for your patentable invention or design, but this requires submitting an application and is not automatically approved.
If you need stories for your web site or products for your company to manufacture, and you can’t come up with your own ideas, you can buy the rights from other people to publish their works or to manufacture their inventions. Depending on the rights you acquire, you may also be able to sublicense them to others.
Can intellectual property become worthless?
Most certainly. Copyrights and patents have an expiration date, but some works or inventions may not have much value even before they expire. A trade secret once revealed usually loses much of its value.
Related Articles
- How to Register Your Copyright
- How to Patent Your Invention
- Service Marks vs. Trademarks
- How to Protect Trade Secrets
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