when you hear the phrase intellectual property, What do you think of? How can something that exists in your mind be considered property? Are your ideas of your property similar to your house or car?
Simply put, no, your ideas are not something you can just own. After all, if ideas were never shared in the marketplace, where would we be? Imagine if Bill Gates had never shared his ideas about the new BASIC programming language that he and Paul Allen developed… Would Microsoft exist? How would that have impacted our world today? Let’s go back even further: what would life be like if Louis Pasteur had never shared his ideas about heat treatment, what we now call pasteurization? The exchange of ideas has gotten us to where we are, good and bad.
So what is intellectual property?
Intellectual property are those ideas fixed in a form. That is, it is NOT the idea itself but how it is presented. They are also the laws created to register, administer and govern those presentations of ideas. That can be a little hard to understand, so let’s look at some examples from the three branches of intellectual property: copyrights, patents, and trademarks.
Copyright:
Copyright can be obtained for things of an artistic nature. This includes, of course, poetry, movies, sculptures, music, fiction, etc. But it can also include things that don’t necessarily look “arty” in the general sense of the word. Copyright can also be obtained for advertising copies, games, software programs, and blueprints, to name just a few.
Patents:
Patents are the protection of inventions, as well as significant improvements to existing inventions. Inventions are mainly considered things like Edison’s electric lamp or phonograph. There are three distinct sections within the scope of patents: utility, design, and plant. Utility patents protect the invention in its utilitarian sense (ie how it works and how it is used), while design patents protect the invention in its ornamental appearance. Let’s go back to Edison for an example: he obtained a utility patent for his electric lamp, as well as a design patent for the look/design of the electric lamp.
Trademarks:
Trademarks can be product or service names, logos, slogans, packaging, and even sounds and smells. In essence, a trademark can be almost anything that is used to identify a particular product or service. Registering a trademark grants the owner exclusive rights to the mark within the specified industry. Of course, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate the trademark before filing to ensure that there is no possibility of infringing another party.
Summary
In a nutshell, those are the three branches of intellectual property. The free flow of ideas has been and will continue to be important for the development of our world. Of course, protecting those ideas of yours, whatever form they take, can be just as important. Would Bill Gates be the richest person in the world if he had No secured all of your intellectual property rights?
Let your ideas flow…but be sure to protect your intellectual property!
