Episode 9 - The Fascinating World of Intellectual Property Law and How it Applies to Software

• Intellectual Property Law was created to foster innovation and competition.
• The concept has actually been around for centuries.
• Today, IP Law provides a way to protect coding innovations that may be novel or unique.

• It refers to ownership of intangible things, giving people and businesses property rights to the intellectual goods and innovation they create, usually for a limited time.

• You can own a specific brand logo, a unique way of solving a software problem or even a composition.

• There are four types of intellectual property:

  • Copyrights - for anything dubbed as “art” like paintings, music, etc.
  • Patents - for inventions, meant to purposely enable a monopoly on their production.
  • Trademarks - these are brand-related like logos, catchphrases and others that help identify a company.
  • Trade Secrets - concepts that give a business some competitive edge over another.

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