What Is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property is a broad categorical description for the set of intangible assets owned and

legally protected by a company or individual from outside use or implementation without

consent. An intangible asset is a non-physical asset that a company or person owns.

The concept of intellectual property relates to the fact that certain products of human intellect

should be afforded the same protective rights that apply to physical property, which are

called tangible assets. Most developed economies have legal measures in place to protect both

forms of property.

 wide body of federal and state laws protects creative property such as writing, music, drawings,

paintings, photography, and films. Collectively, this body of law is called “intellectual property”

law, which includes copyright, trademark, and patent laws, each applicable in various situations

and each with its own set of technical rules. When obtaining permission to use creative works,

you’re concerned primarily with copyright law. However, trademarks, trade secrets, and

publicity and privacy rights sometimes come into play when permission to use certain types of

works is sought.

THE RIGHTS PROTECTED BY THE IP LAWS

 Copyright. Federal copyright law protects original creative works such as paintings,

writing, architecture, movies, software, photos, dance, and music. A work must meet

certain minimum requirements to qualify for copyright protection. The length of

protection also varies depending on when the work was created or first published.

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 Trademark. Brand names such as Nike and Apple, as well as logos, slogans, and other

devices that identify and distinguish products and services, are protected under federal

and state trademark laws. Unlike copyrighted works, trademarks receive different degrees

of protection depending on numerous variables, including the consumer awareness of the

trademark, the type of service and product it identifies, and the geographic area in which

the trademark is used.

 Right of Publicity. A patchwork of state laws known as the right of publicity protects

the image and name of a person. These laws protect against the unauthorized use of a

person’s name or image for commercial purposes—for example, the use of your picture

on a box of cereal. The extent of this protection varies from state to state.

 Trade Secrets. State and federal trade secret laws protect sensitive business

information. An example of a trade secret would be a confidential marketing plan for the

introduction of a new software product or the secret recipe for a brand of salsa. The

extent of trade secret protection depends on whether the information gives the business

an advantage over competitors, is kept a secret, and is not known by competitors.

 Right of Privacy. Although not part of intellectual property laws, state privacy laws

preserve the right of all people to be left alone. Invasion of privacy occurs when someone

publishes or publicly exploits information about another person’s private affairs. Invasion

of privacy laws prevent you from intruding on, exposing private facts about, or falsely

portraying someone. The extent of this protection may vary if the subject is a public

figure—for example, a celebrity or politician.

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 AN EXPLANATION OF THE CONCEPT COPYRIGHT

The definition of copyright is in the word itself: It is the right to copy. It describes the

legal rights of the owner of intellectual property. A person who owns the copyright to

work, such as song lyrics or an original drawing, is the only person who can copy that

work or grant permission to someone else to copy it. In addition to being able to assign

their copyright, license it, or use it for funding, copyright holders may also collect

royalties when others use their copyrighted work. Copyright differs from

other intellectual property because it is automatically created when a person creates a

copyrightable work that is an original literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work. There

is no need to register such an original work for it to be copyrighted. As soon as an

individual creates an original piece of art, for example, they have automatic copyright on

the resulting work.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism has been defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as “the act of taking the

writings of another person and passing them off as ones own.” 2 It is an act of forgery,

piracy, and fraud and is stated to be a serious crime of academia. 3 It is also a violation of

copyright laws. Honesty in scientific practice and in publication is necessary.

How to avoid plagiarism

 Keeping track of the sources you consult in your research

 Paraphrasing or quoting from your sources (and adding your own ideas)

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 Crediting the original author in an in-text citation and in your reference list

 Using a plagiarism checker before you submit

BIBLIOGRAPGHY/ REFERENCING

Bibliography/ Referencing means acknowledging someone else’s work or ideas. It is

sometimes called ‘citing’ or ‘documenting’ another person’s work. Referencing is a basic

university requirement. It is mandatory for all students to cite or acknowledge

information that has come from other sources. Two reference styles are:

 APA Referencing style

This referencing style was designed by the American Psychological Association

and was initially used for studies in psychology and social sciences. However,

many researchers also do use this study for other disciplines. At present, it is at its

7th edition form. This type of referencing style often uses an author-date system

of parenthetical referencing.

Example; (Field, 2005, p. 14). For sources such as websites and e-books that have

no page numbers, use a paragraph number, for example: (Field, 2005, para. 1).

More information on direct quotation of sources without pagination is given on

the APA Style and Grammar Guidelines web page.

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 MLA Referencing style

MLA referencing style was created by the Modern Language Association, as goes

with the name. At present, it is at its 8th edition. Researchers mainly employ this

style for language and literature studies. It tends to adopt the parenthetical format

of citing in nature, containing the name of author and page number.

Example; Lark knows how to handle life on the river: “I try to count the seconds

before I hear the thunder, so I know how far the storm is, but I’m too rattled”

(Wingate 12).

Wingate, Lisa. Before We Were Yours. Random House, 2017.

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References
T. Thompson 2022. “Referencing Styles”. Retrieved on July 29, 2022 from Thebalancesmb.
https://www.similarweb.com/website/thebalancesmb.com.

"Home - PMC - NCBI". 2022. Retrieved on July 29,2022 from  Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/.

K. Will. 2021. "Intellectual Property". Retrieved on July 20, 2022 from  Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/intellectualproperty.asp.

Sims, Rich. 2022. "Overview of Intellectual Property Laws". Retrieved on July 20, 2022 from
Stanford Copyright And Fair Use Center.
https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/introduction/intellectual-property-laws/.