There is a fundamental relationship in business between risk and reward. Intellectual property law is about enabling a reward or return to be obtained for the risk associated with creating and developing ideas. Inventions generally do not occur by accident but as a result of deliberate research and development. Brands are created through managed use, advertising and promotional activities. Books and films require creativity, labour and investment to produce.
Industrial designs are the product of creative flair and human effort.
Even when software or other works are generated by a computer rather than by a human being, they are only produced as a result of a person creating the circumstances in which the computer can generate the work. In each case, a product or service which incorporates the intangible results of these endeavours, must be released into the market place and used in order to earn revenues. What gives these things the characteristics of property and prevents them from being freely used by others, is intellectual property law. This allows inventions, brands, designs, books and films, computer code and know-how to be bought, sold and utilised by the owner to the exclusion of others, to be licensed and otherwise exploited. The ability to stop unauthorised use of the property by enforcing the owner's rights through infringement proceedings is how the law backs up the rights granted exclusively to the owner.