What is intellectual property?
Intellectual property is a creation of the mind. Intellectual property is also referred to creations of a person’s mind, examples of this are: inventions, literary or artistic work, symbols, names and designs that are used in commerce.
There are also two subsets of intellectual property; there is industrial property and copyright. Intellectual property laws end up making like a temporary monopoly on an idea or product so that another group or person cannot use it for monetary gain. For example, all books or novels that are published have a copyright on the content so that others cannot use it and pass it off as their own work.
Intellectual property law is no new thing. It has been around since the 1800s. The term seems to have first appeared just after the French Revolution for the writings of Benjamin Constant, a French Liberalist.
The advent of the internet has made intellectual property law even more important. There was an instant when author Stephenie Meyer, author of the best-selling “Twilight” series had a manuscript she was working on called “Midnight Sun” hacked off of her computer and posted on the internet. The manuscript was her original novel “Twilight” from the perspective of another character, the vampire Edward Cullen, instead of her heroine Bella Swan.
A good reference for things that involve intellectual property is the book by Steve Barbarich, “The Complete Manual on How to Make Money from Your Inventions and Patents”. Barbarich is well versed in the process, having marketed several products from beginning to end.
Intellectual property is an important part of the society but it is also controversial because some people think that placing a monopoly on ideas is not a good idea. They think that it slows progression of ideas and is not good for the society as a whole.
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