Intellectual Property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of human intelligence.
It empowers creators to restrict others from using their creative works. It includes copyright, patents and trademarks, which are all protected by specific laws:
- Copyright is a legal right that grants the creator of original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution
- Trademarks enable producers of goods and services to protect their reputation, and they safeguard the public by giving them a simple way to differentiate between similar products and services
- Patents give inventors a time-limited monopoly on their inventions as an exclusive right to exploit them.
- Design rights protect the visual appearance of an object or part of an object.
- Other types of IP are trade secrets, publicity rights and moral rights
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The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.