Intellectual property refers to intangible products that people have created and over which individuals or groups have legal control. Something that is intangible cannot be held or touched. Intellectual property is protected under a system of laws that includes copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. These forms of protection give creators control over their creations for a limited time.
Works protected by intellectual property laws include books, business methods, colors, computer programs, inventions, motion pictures, music, paintings, sounds, and symbols. Rules for granting intellectual property protection differ from country to country. However, international agreements guarantee that a minimum level of protection exists in all countries that have signed the agreements. The World Intellectual Property Organization oversees many of the international agreements on intellectual property.
There are many forms of intellectual property protection. Copyrights protect authors and artists against unauthorized copying, performance, or distribution of their works. Patents grant inventors exclusive rights over their inventions or business methods for a limited period of time. Companies may obtain protection for their _trademarks—_that is, the words or symbols they use to identify their products. Trade secrets are not revealed publicly, but they include a company’s intangible products.
The evolution of computer and telecommunications technologies has made protection of intellectual property more difficult. The Internet and other communications media allow people to send copies of protected work around the world immediately and inexpensively. As a result, it has become extremely difficult to protect intellectual property, especially copyrighted works, against unauthorized use. For example, in 2005, the Authors Guild filed a lawsuit against Google Inc., a major Internet company, over Google’s scanning of millions of copyrighted books. The Authors Guild is a professional organization that advocates for authors’ rights. In 2015, a New York federal appeals court sided with Google in a unanimous decision in Authors Guild v. Google. The court dismissed the suit. The justices ruled that Google’s unauthorized digital copying of protected works was not copyright infringement because the “snippets” of text made available for online searches of the books through Google Books are limited and therefore, providing the text is “fair use.” The Guild appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States. But the high court refused to review the case, effectively ending the Guild’s 10-year legal challenge.
Many people argue that the length and scope of intellectual property protection should be reduced to allow greater sharing of knowledge and the benefits of new technology, especially to the developing world. Others believe that strict protections of all kinds of intellectual property are necessary to encourage creative activity.
