Intellectual property law is a field of the law that includes copyright law, patent law, trade secret law, and trademark law. Intellectual property law also sometimes deals with other areas of the law, such as licensing and unfair competition.

Intellectual property law protects ideas and concepts that are created by the human mind. Patent law aims to protect inventions and discoveries, including everything from product innovations to new processes. Copyright law protects original artistic creations such as music, films, literary works, and television programs. Trademark law pertains to brands, logos, and other symbols that are associated with particular products and businesses. The laws established for licensing serve the end of allowing intellectual property owners to share their protected ideas with others in a legal and mutually beneficial way. Laws dealing with unfair competition and statutes pertaining to counterfeiting and pirating of creative works also extend legal protection to intellectual property owners against others profiting from their ideas.

These different areas of intellectual property law often overlap with one another and are frequently practiced together. For example, a new process for managing a business’s intellectual property can be protected as a trade secret before it is patented. Or, copyright and patent law may be used to protect creative efforts intrinsic to computer software.

Mueller Hillin specializes in Intellectual Property cases in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and Austin.

Intellectual property law protects ideas and concepts that are created by the human mind. Patent law aims to protect inventions and discoveries, including everything from product innovations to new processes. Copyright law protects original artistic creations such as music, films, literary works, and television programs. Trademark law pertains to brands, logos, and other symbols that are associated with particular products and businesses. The laws established for licensing are designed to permit intellectual property owners to share their protected ideas with others in ways that are both legal and mutually beneficial. Laws dealing with unfair competition and statutes pertaining to counterfeiting and pirating of creative works also extend legal protection to intellectual property owners against others profiting from their ideas.

Intellectual property law is a legal area that includes copyright law, patent law, trade secret law, and trademark law. Intellectual property law also sometimes has to do with other areas of the law, such as licensing and unfair competition.

These different areas of intellectual property law often overlap with one another and are frequently practiced by the same attorneys. For example, a new process for managing a business’s intellectual property can be protected as a trade secret before it is patented. Or, copyright and patent law may be used to protect creative efforts intrinsic to computer software.

Mueller Hillin specializes in Intellectual Property cases in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and Austin.

Intellectual property law is a field of legal practice that concerns the ownership of mental creations that have commercial or artistic value. Under intellectual property law, owners of a variety of intangible assets are given certain exclusive rights to those assets. Assets that come under the purview of intellectual property law include but are not limited to: artistic, musical, and literary works; inventions and discoveries; and designs, symbols, phrases, and words. Some commonly found examples of intellectual property are patents, industrial trade secrets, copyrights, and trademarks. Even though several of the legal concepts that concern intellectual property have developed over hundreds of years, it wasn’t until the 1800s that the term “intellectual property” came into use, and it was not until the latter part of the 20th century that the term found wide acceptance in the United States.

Intellectual property rights are non-permanent monopolies administered by the state that regard the communication and deployment of information and ideas. Intellectual property rights are most often limited to goods which can be enjoyed or put to use by several people at once. These goods are called “non-rival goods.” This is in contrast to what are called “rival goods,” like chairs and socks, which can only be used by one person at a time. For example, several people at once could view the same television program. Some people object to the term “intellectual property” based on the reasoning that property as such can only properly refer to rival goods (or that one cannot “own” non-rival goods).

Mueller Hillin specializes in Intellectual Property Law in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and Austin.

Although many of the principles related to intellectual property law have evolved over centuries,  the term intellectual property did not come into use until the 19^th century, and was not used commonly in the United States until the late 20th century.

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual Property is defined as any intangible asset that consists of human knowledge and ideas. Examples of Intellectual Property include copyrights, patents, trademarks and software. Intellectual property may also refer to artistic or creative endeavors and production: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

Intellectual property is generally divided into two categories. The first category, industrial property, includes inventions—and therefore patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source. The second category has to do with copyrighted works, including literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs.

Intellectual property assets may be difficult to quantify on a balance sheet; because they may not a material good like most other assets, Intellectual Property can be very difficult to objectively assign a value to. For this reason, if you believe you have the basis for an Intellectual Property-related case, it is important to get in touch with an attorney with extensive experience in this field of law. Mueller Hillin specializes in Intellectual Property cases in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and Austin.