Intellectual property

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Grammarist

The term intellectual property is a legal or business term, first used in the 1870s. We will examine the definition of intellectual property, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

Intellectual property is work product that is produced through creativity. In legal terms, intellectual property covers patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Art, inventions and designs are intellectual property. As intellectual property is intangible, what constitutes intellectual property is often in dispute. The idea of intellectual property as it is known today came into use in the 1870s in the United States, when there was a push to abolish the patent system. A group of people attempted to combine patent law and copyright law under the term intellectual property. The plural form of intellectual property is intellectual properties.

Examples

The conference is part of the ongoing cooperation between the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and Qatar Science Club, aiming at establishing a culture of intellectual property rights in the local community, targeting innovators, and enabling them to preserve their inventions, to develop their skills and encourage them to innovate, and to enable them to gain practical and professional experience that allows them to protect their inventions. (The Peninsula)

President Donald Trump said that the White House is “acting swiftly” to stem the tide of intellectual property theft and demanded that China come up with a plan to reduce its trade deficit with the United States by $1 billion. (The Epoch Times)

China is trying to gain access to sensitive U.S. technologies and intellectual properties through telecommunications companies, academia and joint business ventures, U.S. senators and spy chiefs warned on Tuesday at a Senate hearing. (Reuters)