Type of IP

Types of IP

Intellectual property is a broad concept that covers several types of legally recognized rights arising from some type of intellectual creativity, or that are otherwise related to ideas.⁴ IP rights are rights to intangible things⁵—to ideas, as expressed (copyrights), or as embodied in a practical implementation (patents). Tom Palmer puts it this way: “Intellectual property rights are rights in ideal objects, which are distinguished from the material substrata in which they are instantiated.”⁶ In today’s legal systems, IP typically includes at least copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets.⁷