What Is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property is a general term for the legal rights connected to products that are intangible and were created by humans.
While property law mostly deals with the question of ownership over tangible property, such as real-estate or vehicles, intellectual property laws deal with a variety of legal questions regarding inventions, creations, designs, plants species, electric circuits and more.
There are two essential differences between physical property and intellectual property:
Simultaneous use – A vehicle can only be driven by one person at any given time. However, an invention, creation or trademark can be used by an unlimited amount of people simultaneously without one person’s use denying another person ability to use it.
Protection – A vehicle can be stored in a locked parking garage and a security guard can ensure that no one will use it. An invention, creation or trademark cannot be stored and there is no physical way to protect it from those who wish to use it.
Therefore, the law provides a sort of a “legal fence” which prevents those who are not permitted to use other’s intellectual properties without permissions and license.
It is customary to divide intellectual property laws into two categories: rights that require registration and rights that do not require registration, whereas each category contains different rights, each with their own unique “legal fence”.