What is “Intellectual Property” in the context of MPEG-4?
Intellectual property describes the efforts of creators to produce works, including ideas, information, inventions and expressions that may be manifested in digital content. Such creative material has a measurable value and these are generally expressed as “rights”. The Intellectual Property Right (IPR) is the legal authority afforded by copyright protection defined by national, and increasingly, international, legislation, granted to creators and their appointed agents. IPR generally bestows on its owners the right to exclude others (with certain limited exceptions) from the use or re-use of their intellectual property without a licence from the IPR owner. Any intellectual property which is delivered, either freely or for commercial gain, through an MPEG-4 application is afforded such protection.
