Intellectual Property Terms

This section covers legal vocabulary readers encounter when protecting creative works, brand identity, inventions, and confidential commercial information.

Current cornerstone topics include Copyright, Trademark, Patent, Trade Secret, Fair Use, Infringement, Licensing, and Cease-and-Desist Letter.

For adjacent concepts about contracts, business duties, and commercial disputes, start with Contract, Fiduciary Duty, Remedy, and Damages.

In this section

• Cease-and-Desist Letter in IP Disputes
  A cease-and-desist letter is a written demand that someone stop alleged unlawful conduct, often before litigation begins.
• Copyright in Intellectual Property Law
  Copyright is the legal protection given to original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium.
• Fair Use in Copyright Law
  Fair use is a doctrine that allows some limited uses of copyrighted material without permission under certain circumstances.
• Infringement in Intellectual Property Law
  Infringement is the unauthorized violation of rights protected by intellectual-property law.
• Licensing of Intellectual Property Rights
  Licensing is the process of granting permission to use intellectual property under stated conditions.
• Patent Protection for Inventions
  A patent is a government-issued right that allows an inventor to exclude others from making, using, or selling a claimed invention for a limited time.
• Trade Secret Protection in Business Law
  A trade secret is valuable business information that derives protection from not being generally known and from reasonable secrecy measures.
• Trademark in Brand Protection Law
  A trademark is a word, name, symbol, design, or similar indicator used to identify the source of goods or services.