What is an exclusive right in intellectual property?
Most governments recognize a bundle of exclusive rights in relation to works of authorship, inventions, and identifications of origin. These rights are sometimes spoken of under the umbrella term “intellectual property”. An example is copyright, which grants a copyright holder a negative right to exclude others from exploiting his or her artistic or creative work. The position is generally similar with patents and trademarks. Exclusive rights arise from a grant of patent or registration of a trademark, while in other cases such rights may arise through use (eg. copyright or common-law trademark). Holding an intellectual property right generally means that the rights holder can maintain certain controls in relation to the subject matter in which the IP right subsists. For example, a person who buys a copy of a computer program which is subject to copyright may use the software for personal use, but will probably be prohibited from creating or distributing copies of that software, subjec
