what are intellectual property

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols used in commerce. It is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect, and some countries recognize more types of intellectual property than others. The best-known types of intellectual property are patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. The main purpose of intellectual property law is to encourage the creation of a wide variety of intellectual goods for consumers by giving people and businesses property rights to the information and intellectual goods they create, usually for a limited period of time. This provides economic incentive for the creation of intellectual goods and allows individuals and companies to profit from them. Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds, and they usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of their creation for a certain period of time