What are Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)?
Intellectual property is a creation of an individual’s intellect. The law grants an individual ownership rights over this intangible property, just as the law grants ownership over material things. IPR are protected under four broad categories of criminal and civil law: • Copyright – for written works • Trademark – for factors that identify and distinguish products, services, and providers • Trade Secrets – for information that has economic value and that is not disclosed to maintain this value • Patent – for inventions Theft of intellectual property allows the violator to profit from the work of another. There are federal criminal laws that protect Copyright, Trademark, and Trade Secrets, while infringement of a Patent is covered by federal civil law.
