ABSTRACT
Intellectual property represents inventions, writings, music, designs, and other works that may arise during innovation and product planning activities. Understanding how to protect such intellectual property is essential for ensuring a competitive advantage. Legal ways to protect intellectual property include patent, trade secret, trademark, or copyright. Through a patent, the inventor is given the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the invention for a specified duration. Revenue can come from a patent by way of licensing arrangements or infringement suits; because a patent is considered a unique kind of personal property, it can be bought, sold, mortgaged, given, or willed to another person nearly as easily as any other personal property. The patent specification serves to clearly describe the invention, with drawings required in all cases to the point that they are meaningful.
