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What are the types of Intellectual Property?

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Common types of intellectual property rights protect different types of abstract subject matter. The five main types of non-physical things considered to comprise intellectual property are:


  • Copyright/©: A copyright protects original works of authorship fixed in a physical medium of expression. Copyrights can include published and unpublished works—literary, dramatic, and musical and dance compositions, films, photographs, audiovisual works, paintings, sculpture, and other visual works of art, as well as computer programs—from being copied.
  • Patent: A patent is a grant issued by the federal government giving an inventor the right to exclude others from making, having made, using, leasing, offering to sell, selling, or importing an invention in the United States. A patent does not necessarily guarantee inventors the right to make, use or sell their inventions; in some cases, utilizing a patented invention depends on another person's prior, unexplored patent.
  • Trademark/™ ®: Trademark protection covers a non-functional word, logo, slogan, symbol, design—or any combination of these—that distinguishes a product or service. Essentially trademarks are the brand names that promote competition by giving products corporate identity and marketing leverage.
  • Trade Secret: A trade secret is a formula, pattern, manufacturing process, method of doing business, or technical know-how that gives its owner a competitive advantage. Trade secrets cover a wide range of information, including chemical compounds, machine patterns, customer lists and software.
  • Designs: Intellectual property of design refers to the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial object, for example furniture or textiles.



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