The law of intellectual property encompasses the areas of copyright, patent, trade dress, and trademark laws. It is designed to encourage the development of art, science, and information by granting property rights to creative and inventive people. These rights allow artists and inventors to protect themselves from infringement, or the unauthorized use and misuse of their creations. It's Only Rock and Roll . . . P.C. Intellectual Property Law Topics Copyrights Copyrights are exclusive rights granted to authors, artists, composers, and publishers to produce and distribute their works.
Copyrights arise automatically as soon as creative works are made.
International Intellectual Property International intellectual property is intellectual property, such as patents and copyrights, that is transferred from one country to another. Each nation has its own rules and regulations governing intellectual property, so an artist or inventor who wants to protect his or her rights in more than one country will have to make several registrations. International treaties have streamlined some search and registration procedures. Patents Patents are granted to inventors for new and nonobvious technologies. A patent gives the inventor exclusive rights in the invention for a period of time, so that he or she can profit from the invention before it is available to the general public.