WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

IP is divided into two categories: 1) Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and 2) Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.

Not every idea inside a person's mind can be considered intellectual property, which can only be a good thing in some instances. There is usually a commercial viability angle which needs proper protection to prevent theft of the idea or outright copyright infringement. Hundreds of people throughout history may have conceived of a long-distance communication system, but Alexander Graham Bell needed to establish ownership of his intellectual property known as the telephone. Without a proper patent, dozens of other enterprising businessmen in the 1870s could have legally manufactured their own version of the telephone without penalty.

Intellectual property may or may not belong to the original inventor or composer, however. Individual scientists working for pharmaceutical companies or private laboratories may invent a formula for a new cancer drug or a zero gravity machine, but the actual intellectual property rights may be held by the company or laboratory as a whole. The inventor could not resign from the laboratory and begin marketing the miracle drug or machine on his own. Often when a company acquires another company, it receives intellectual property rights as well as the building and equipment.

Many court cases arise over improper use of intellectual property. This is why experts strongly recommend that inventors and those in creative fields seek protection through official registration of their ideas and trade secrets.

We will further discuss the process and procedure of official registration of the ideas etc in the next entry.