Legal Ownership And The Importance of Protecting Intellectual Property

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Legal Ownership

• A legal owner of property has the right:
  • to use it in any way he or she wants to
  • the power to give those rights to another

This is a property interest, which means that the owner has certain rights to property, and a court will enforce those rights.

• Owners of property can control how it is used
  • Ownership is an important concept for IP
  • IP owner has certain exclusive rights

Types of Property Ownership

• Real property interest
  • means that a person owns land or buildings
• Personal property interest
  • means that a person owns physical possessions such as cars, books, and silverware
• IP interest
  • means that a person owns some sort of creation
  • Creations include items such as art, designs, images, and inventions

Important

Corporations and businesses and government also can own property.

• In the context of property law, a person is a real person or other legal entity
• Legal entities include corporations, businesses, private organizations, and governments

IP and the Federal Government

• federal government determines many IP law rules in the United States
  • U.S. Constitution specifically grants Congress the power 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.”
  • drafters of the Constitution wanted to encourage innovation and discovery
    • specifically said that authors and inventors must have the exclusive right to control their creations and inventions for a certain period

Main Purpose of IP Law

• exclusive right to control how creations and inventions are used is the main purpose of IP law
• Creators have a right to control how their creations are used for a certain period of time
  • depending upon the underlying nature of the creation
  • Different laws protect inventions and literary works for different periods
• During the protected period
  • the creator or author of a work or invention is the only person who can use or reproduce it
  • allows authors and inventors to profit from their creative efforts