What is intellectual property and which types do I need?

Click HERE to download as PDF

Intellectual property (IP) is a property right established in law to exclude others from using, without authorisation, your intellectual creations. IP rights allow you to commercialise and exploit your innovative and creative ideas. IP rights consist of:

  • patents, which protect innovative technical solutions in all lines of industry,
  • copyrights, which protect original intellectual creations in the creative arts,
  • trademarks, which protect distinctive marks indicating a product’s business origin,
  • designs, which protect the visual appearance of the product.

Beyond these formal IP rights, businesses may also opt for protection of their own confidential information from misappropriation by keeping it a trade secret.

Which types of intellectual property do you need?

* Depending on the national law and the type of design, they may also be protected as works of art under copyright. In some countries, designs are protected under patent law as "design patents".

Why should I care about intellectual property?

How do I use intellectual property to grow my business?

Click HERE to download as PDF


Stay informed

 Stay Informed

Sign up to receive 4iP research reports, event and news information.

* indicates required

SME Features

2023 4iP Wrapped
2023 4iP Wrapped

Top 5 Research Papers

Read more More features

Latest Research

Summary: Understanding the Difference Between Participants and Contributors in a Standard-Development Process
Summary: Understanding the Difference Between Participants and Contributors in a Standard-Development Process

by Lorenzo Casaccia, Urška Petrovčič, Karyn Vuong.

13 March 2024

The development of technological standards, such as the fifth generation (“5G”) cellular standard, requires cooperation and coordination among hundreds of companies and thousands of engineers. However, not every participant contributes in the same proportion to the creation of a standard. We examined the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (“3GPP”) — a partnership of seven global standards-development organizations that develops protocols for mobile telecommunications — and found that a small group of companies, which represents 1 percent of 3GPP members, is responsible for over half of the contributions made to the 3GPP in relation to the development of 5G. There is then a large number of 3GPP members that make only minimal contributions, if any at all. Although there is a large heterogeneity among contributions in terms of their inventive content, these data suggest that only a few companies make risky investments in R&D to develop the technologies that are used to build cellular standards. Yet, when successful, those investments benefit not only all 3GPP members but also the industry and society more broadly.

View More reports