Protecting Your Intellectual Property

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The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, refers to intellectual property as "creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names and images and designs used in commerce." They further explain that intellectual property (IP) is separated into two seperate categories: Copyright, in which includes artistic and literary works; and Industrial property, including industrial designs, trademarks, inventions (patents) as well as geographic indications of it's source. To fully understand intellectual property rights and laws it takes a very extensive process of research and learning. There are many resources on the Internet that simplify the intensity of the learning process.

Each type of intellectual property is protected by different means. The U.S. government website StopFakes.gov defines the different means by which intellectual property is protected as patent, trademark or copyright, these include protection of industrial design rights and trade secrets. The site takes you through the process for each type and helps classify what type of IP you have and what you need to do to protect it.

Intellectual property law is an important and frequently litigated area of the law, especially in the copyright, patent and trademark areas. Intellectual property law is often a cross section of differing and often competing rules and regulations. The laws try to define what actions one can take with the intellectual property itself and what can be done with a lawfully possessed copy of the said property. One of the most famous intellectual property legal cases was the Napster Case, where the music companies went after thousands of individuals, including a 12 year old girl, who illegally downloaded music from the Internet.

For all its complexities, intellectual property rights and laws are here for the protection of the individual who comes up with an idea that leads to further developments such as a machine, a work of art or a new process for something. In our "six degrees of separation" world, a similar idea is often had by many individuals often around the same time; the one who gets the patent, trademark or copyright first wins the rights to that idea.