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Knowledge, creative ideas, or expressions of human mind that have commercial value and are protectable under copyright, patent, servicemark, trademark, or trade secret laws from imitation, infringement, and dilution. Intellectual property includes brand names, discoveries, formulas, inventions, Knowledge, registered designs, software, and works of artistic, literary, or musical nature.
The definition of intellectual property differs by country, and even changes within each of these countries as time goes on.
In the United States, Intellectual Property is protected under the clause in our constitution which states that the government has the right 'to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries'
This means that IP laws in this country protect the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention (or importing).
They are most often patents, trademarks, and copyrights, though there are a variety of other forms as well.
