Intellectual Property

"The protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs)—patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and the like—has changed over the last two decades from an obscure national regulation issue to a hotly debated global issue. It’s a very complex issue to summarize, as there are quite a few strands. But behind all these strands, there is one central new world economy phenomenon.

Ideas and knowledge are an increasingly important part of trade. Many products that used to be traded as low-technology goods or commodities now contain a higher proportion of invention and design in their value.

Social networking is a daily part of many Americans' lives. Facebook has more than 500 million active users and Twitter has over 175 million. But as our online activities grow, so do concerns and challenges related to intellectual property protection on the Internet.

Our legal system provides certain rights and protections for owners of property. The kind of property that results from the fruits of mental labor is called intellectual property.

Your gateway to all of WIPO's intellectual property activities, from copyright and patents, to training and outreach.

It just doesn't pay to sue over patents.

A widespread meme in the tech community holds that patents are a path to riches: an entrepreneur who solves a key technical problem and receives a patent can build a business on the technology and ride to glory. IMHO, for most small companies today, patents are just about worthless. Many entrepreneurs misunderstand the value patents create, and how difficult they are to enforce.

The USPTO leads efforts to develop and strengthen both domestic and international intellectual property protection. 

This week, Stan Muller launches the Crash Course Intellectual Property mini-series. So, what is intellectual property, and why are we teaching it? Well, intellectual property is about ideas and their ownership, and it's basically about the rights of creators to make money from their work. Intellectual property is so pervasive in today's world, we thought you ought to know a little bit about it. We're going to discuss the three major elements of IP: Copyright, Patents, and Trademarks.

An explanation of copyright law in the US and how it has expanded over the years

Ror over an hour yesterday, as the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the recently introduced PATENT Act unfolded, it seemed like we were in patent fantasyland. Except for some predictable comments from the deputy general counsel of pharma giant Bristol-Myers Squibb that any legislation should address the issue of hedge fund investors challenging drug patents through inter partes review, it was one long patent reform love-in. Is the PATENT Act perfect?

After decades of ever more draconian statutes and judicial decisions, our intellectual property system has veered far away from its original purpose. Too often, our nation's deeply held-commitments to promoting free speech and innovation seem to go out the window as soon as someone cries "infringement."

Intellectual property (IP) is a term referring to creations of the intellect for which a monopoly is assigned to designated owners by law.

Intellectual property law deals with the rules for securing and enforcing legal rights to inventions, designs, and artistic works. Just as the law protects ownership of personal property and real estate, so too does it protect the exclusive control of intangible assets. The purpose of these laws is to give an incentive for people to develop creative works that benefit society, by ensuring they can profit from their works without fear of misappropriation by others.