What is Intellectual Property?

By:  Gene Quinn

Generally speaking, “intellectual property” is probably best thought of (at least form a conceptual standpoint) as creations of the mind that are given the legal rights often associated with real or personal property. The rights that are obtained by the creator are a function of statutory law (i.e., law created by the legislature). These statutes may be federal or state laws, or in some instance both federal and state law govern various aspect of a single type of intellectual property.

The term intellectual property itself is now commonly used to refer to the bundle of rights conferred by each of the following fields of law: (1) patent law; (2) copyright law; (3) trade secret law; (4) the right of publicity; and (5) trademark and unfair competition law. Some people confuse these areas of intellectual property law, and although there may be some similarities among these kinds of intellectual property protection, they are different and serve different purposes.

What is a Patent?

Whenever you think patent you should think  invention. Thus, a patent is the grant of a property right to an inventor. Patents only exist once they have been granted, and in the United States patents are issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which is a non-commercial federal entity and one of 14 bureaus in the Department of Commerce. Before going any further it is worth pointing out that ideas are not patentable, although every invention starts out with an idea. Still, in order to be in a position where you can obtain a patent your idea must have matured into an invention. See Moving from Idea to Patent.

There are three very different kinds of patent in the United States: (1) a utility patent, which covers the functional aspects of products and processes; (2) a design patent, which covers the ornamental design of useful objects; and (3) a plant patent, which covers a new variety of living plant.

Each type of patent confers “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. It is important to note, however, that patents do not protect ideas, but rather protect only tangible or identifiable structures and methods.

Read more >> https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2014/07/19/what-is-intellectual-property/id=47109/