Intellectual Property Law

What is Intellectual Property?

I. How can universals, or abstract ideas, be "owned" ? Ia. Does ownership of an abstract idea mean that the owner has the right to exclude, use, possess, and transfer the idea, under the traditional definition of property? II. If Intellectual Property does not mean the right to exclude, possess, use, and transfer a universal, what does linguistic item "Intellectual Property" signify? III. If there is no denotation of Intellectual Property, what is the connotation of "Intellectual Property"? IV. If ideas are fundamental features of the world, like mathematical expressions, that is, they do not exist in space and time, then how can the concept of ownership be applied to them? V. Is "Intellectual Property" just a "contraditio in adjecto" (a contradition in terms)?

Public Comments

1. Definition: A product of the intellect that has commercial value, including copyrighted property such as literary or artistic works, and ideational property, such as patents, appellations of origin, business methods, and industrial processes. Here's some history: By the time the U.S. Constitution was being written, the Founding Fathers had a good philosophical grasp of intellectual property, and provisions regarding it were included: Article I, Section 8 gave 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." Almost as soon as the Constitution was ratified, Congress proceeded to set up a patent law to protect monopolies on inventions. By 1836 the U.S. Patent Office was functioning effectively, and it soon became apparent that invention fared better under the U.S. system than under any other. A monopoly for a limited time on a specific invention encouraged people to invent, knowing they could be protected, and enabled them to sell rights to others who had the capital or existing trade to manufacture and promote an invention. Rest of your answers: Wikipedia has a great article on this topic, I think it should answer most of your questions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
2. Intellectual property or IP refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. This legal entitlement generally enables its holder to exercise exclusive rights of use in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect, and that IP rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of property. Intellectual property laws are territorial such that the registration or enforcement of IP rights must be pursued separately in each jurisdiction of interest. However, these laws are becoming increasingly harmonised through the effects of international treaties such as the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, while other treaties may facilitate registration in more than one jurisdiction at a time.