Intellectual Property

Intellectual property refers to property that is created via the intellect of a person. It encompasses writing, music, artistic works, inventions, discoveries and can include catchphrases or even single words if they can be shown to have been created solely by a particular person.  Intellectual property law deals with the laws regarding intellectual property and covers things like trade secrets such as the secret recipe for Coke, copyrights such as those issued to authors of musical pieces, patents for innovative new designs, and trademarks like those printed on Barbie dolls and Leggos. Laws such as these date back to times of nobility where a monarch would allow a particular merchant to monopolize a particular segment of the market in the same way that they would grant a favor.  From about the 1800s on laws focused on innovation and for this reason were issued less than they are issued today. In this, the Information Age, information can be disseminated in seconds to the entire world via the Internet and laws such as these protect creators, designers and innovators from situations where another person or company would begin to use the originator’s  unique design to turn a profit and in so doing deprive the creator of the profits that they would have made if they had enjoyed exclusive use of the design.  Not everyone agrees with the current intellectual property laws, however, arguing that it creates an intellectual monopoly and stifles the spreading of good ideas that will benefit all of society.  The challenge today is to find a way to ensure innovation and continued creativity by protecting the rights of the creator to profit from his or her creation while still allowing all of society to develop and evolve in response to the creation and innovation of all the members of that society.