Inventor's Guide to Trademarks and Patents, The

Chapter 8. Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is a consideration of intellectual capabilities that has market value, such as (and perhaps not limited to) inventions, ideas or expressions, business methods, industrial processes, and chemical formula. Intellectual property is an intangible business asset that has elastic value determined by the marketplace.

An intellectual property asset must be protected through an appropriate legal means, such as a patent, trademark, service mark, or copyright. State, federal, and international intellectual property laws provide protection (see Figure 8-1).

Figure 8-1. The provisions for providing regulated forms of intellectual property can be thought about in several different ways.

Intellectual property ...