Intellectual property rights are creations of law relating to a person's ideas and creativity. Intellectual property rights protect the creator of new ideas, giving the creator exclusive rights to control the use of his idea. The most important forms of intellectual property for many information technology products and services are copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret law. Each country has its own territorial laws on copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret law. There are also international treaties where signing countries agree on certain common principles of, say copyright law, and that they will uphold another country's law on that subject.
Often there may be overlapping forms of protection for certain elements of a new technology and other aspects of the technology may receive little or no protection. Usually third parties license the use of the new technology from the creator under one of the various formats of intellectual property law - copyright, trademarks, patents or trade secrets.

One form of intellectual property rights is copyright law. How does copyright law protect the creator of intellectual property?

Copyright law provides a bundle of rights, which provide a degree of protection over the form in which concepts, or ideas may be expressed. A copyright owner has the sole right to reproduce the work or any substantial part thereof in any material form whatever. It is illegal to produce unauthorized copies of a computer program, graphic images, text files and other digital representations of a song or a book. The copyright owner has the sole right to produce the work, such as the performing of a dramatic work or sound recording by using applicable software. an important aspect of copyright law is that the rights arise automatically upon creation of an original work which is fixed in a tangible form and is the product of some labor, skill or judgment. Copyright does not extend to ideas, facts, and processes or methods, by example, with computer programs, copyright law protects the form in which the instructions are set out, not the concepts underlying the form.

How does trademark law protect the creator of intellectual property?

Trademarks law is the most effective means of protecting commercial reputation in Canada. A trademark is used by a person to distinguish his wares or services from those of third parties. A domain name on the Internet can be registered as a trademark based upon its use to distinguish goods or services from those of third parties. This explains the rush to be the first to register a domain name. A trademark must identify and bring to the attention of the public a source of goods or services in the ordinary course of business. Because the law of a country creates trademarks, they are territorially restricted. For complete protection worldwide you must pursue trademark registration in all countries of the world. Like other types of intellectual property, the owner must self police and prosecute violations of its trademark at sometimes considerable expense.

Another form of intellectual property rights is a patent. How does a patent protect the creator of intellectual property?

Patents protect inventions such as the function of a machine, a composition of matter or a process under the Canada patent act. The federal government grants to inventors for 17 years the exclusive right to make, construct, and use the invention and to sell it to others to be used. It is up to the patent owner to enforce the patent by suing infringes and granting licenses. In consideration of disclosing the invention in the patent and making it available to the public after 17 years, the government gives the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using or selling the invention during the term of the patent. Patents do not protect science. Patents protect applied science. In the United States patents have been granted for software-related patents, and now business methods are being patented. The old law of patents is showing surprising flexibility in the digital age.

Trade secrets are another form of intellectual property protection. How do trade secrets protect the creator of intellectual property?

Courts will enforce a company's claims for protection against unauthorized use of its trade secrets or confidential information if the company has taken clearly identifiable efforts to establish and maintain a secrecy policy. An example of a trade secret is the secret formula for the popular soft drink known as Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company, in addition to using and registering a trademark, has successfully kept the soft drink formula "under wraps" so to speak. Only two or three top company officials have possession of the secret formula, and they do not travel together by strict company policy. When a company provides a high security environment for its trade secret, and requires strict confidentiality from internal and external persons, a court will enjoin or restrain a competitor from using any trade secret obtained illegally. Sometimes it is better to keep it secret rather than applying for a patent which requires public application and disclosure. Compare a patent, which expires after 17 years to a trade secret lasting forever if properly preserved. In the area of intellectual property law, the mind is the source of all power.