The list of certain types of legal monopolies over creations of mind, both artistic and commercial, and the related fields of law is called Intellectual property (IP). Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain sole rights to a sort of intangibles, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries, and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Intellectual property has been divided into four main categories namely patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.

Copyrights protect original creations, either published or unpublished. They are used to secure the ownership of works like poems, songs, novels, movies etc. It gives legal rights to the creator to use the expression of his or her original work in addition to reproducing, distributing, showing or even selling it with complete freedom within the time decided by law. In most countries, a copyright lasts for fifty years following the author’s demise and any unlawful use within this time span is considered an offence.

Patents on the other hand are lawful and official rights that enable an inventor to check others from manufacturing or selling his or her invention. They offer safety not only for technological breakthroughs and scientific theories but also for discoveries such as biological ones. In most countries, patent protection is available for a restricted period of 20 years and the owner loses his exclusive rights over the invention after the expiry of this time span.

Trade secrets are certain confidential pieces of information that enable a company to gain an edge over its rivals in the market. Trade secrets can be anything ranging from a new software to the recipe of a particular dish and even information like contact numbers of most important clients. Typically, trade secrets are a confidential matter and are strongly guarded by the company without any involvement of the government. Two methods used most often to protect a trade secret are keeping it in a bank vault or keeping it confined to a restricted number of executives, so that it is not within reach of several people and thus stays secure.

Trademarks cover words, symbols or graphics that are used in the context of a specific brand or commodity in order to separate it from products of rivals. Trademarks create an exclusive brand identity for a company and trigger instant recall in the minds of customers. Usually, a registered trademark can get a renewal after a span of a decade.

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