Every law has no atom of strength， as far as no public opinion supports it.
—Wendell Phillips （American leader against slavery）
随着社会的进步、科学技术的发展，人们对智力劳动成果的权益越来越关注。所谓知识产权，就是版权（或著作权）、商标权、专利权等智力劳动成果权的总称。这些智力劳动成果在为社会带来巨大财富的同时，也向法律提出了一个重要的课题，即如何有效地保护这些知识产权。美国早在1790年就由国会颁布了《版权法》和《专利法》，后来经过多次修订，逐渐扩大保护的范围。从20世纪中期开始，美国的现代知识产权法律体系逐渐形成。一方面，在传统知识产权领域内的法律规定更趋完善，例如，现行的《商标法》（即“兰海姆法”）是1946年颁布的，《专利法》是1952年颁布的，《版权法》则是1976年颁布的；另一方面，法律保护知识产权的领域也不断扩大，例如，商业秘密、电子数据等都成为了知识产权法律的保护对象。在美国，专利权、版权和商标权是由联邦法管辖的，而商业秘密是由州法律管辖。到了20世纪后期，知识产权的保护已经成为社会生活、经济生活，特别是贸易活动中最受人们关注的问题之一。
Overview of Intellectual Property Rights
Intellectual property （ IP） rights are a bundle of exclusive rights over creations of the mind， both artistic and commercial. The former is covered by copyright laws， which protect creative works， such as books， movies， music， paintings， photographs， and software， and gives the copyright holder exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time. The second category is collectively known as“industrial properties”， as they are typically created and used for industrial or commercial purposes. A patent may be granted for a new， useful， and non-obvious invention and gives the patent holder a right to prevent others from practicing the invention without a license from the inventor for a certain period of time. A trademark is a distinctive sign which is used to prevent confusion among products in the marketplace.
An industrial design right protects the form of appearance， style or design of an industrial object from infringement. A trade secret is an item of non-public information concerning the commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business. Public disclosure of trade secrets may sometimes be illegal.
The term intellectual property denotes the specific legal rights described above， and not the intellectual work itself.
Objectives
The main objective of intellectual property is to stimulate technological progress， to the benefit of society.
Financial incentive
Intellectual property rights grant exclusive rights to intellectual creations； they grant ownership over creations of the mind. These exclusive rights allow owners of intellectual property to reap monopoly profits. These monopoly profits provide a financial incentive for the creation of intellectual property， and pay associated research and development costs.
Technology diffusion
Technology diffusion occurs if intellectual property is licensed or sold， conversely technology can equally be prevented from being shared， should the owner wish not to sell or license.
Economic growth
The legal monopoly granted by IP laws are credited with significant contributions toward economic growth. Economists estimate that two-thirds of the value of large businesses in the U.S. can be traced to intangible assets. Likewise， industries which rely on IP protections are estimated to produce 72 percent more value per added employee than non-IP industries. Additionally， a jointresearch projectof the WIPO and the United Nations University measuring the impact of IP systems on six Asian countries found“a positive correlation between the strengthening of the IP system and subsequent economic growth”. However， correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
Economics
Intellectual property rights are considered by economists to be a form of temporary monopoly enforced by the state （ or enforced using the legal mechanisms for redress supported by the state） .
Intellectual property rights are usually limited to non-rival goods， that is， goods which can be used or enjoyed by many people simultaneously—the use by one person does not exclude use by another. This is compared to rival goods， such as clothing， which may only be used by one person at a time. For example， any number of people may make use of a mathematical formula simultaneously. Some objections to the term intellectual property are based on the argument that property can only properly be applied to rival goods （ or that one cannot“own”property of this sort） .
Since a non-rival good may be used （ copied， for example） by many simultaneously（ produced with minimal marginal cost） ， producers would have no incentive to create such works. Monopolies， by contrast， also have inefficiencies （ producers will charge more and produce less than would be socially desirable） .
The establishment of intellectual property rights， therefore， represents a trade-off， to balance the interest of society in the creation of non-rival goods （ by encouraging their production） with the problems of monopoly power. Since the trade-off and the relevant benefits and costs to society will depend on many factors that may be specific to each product and society， the optimum period of time during which the temporary monopoly rights exist is unclear.
List of intellectual property-related topics
Generally， intellectual property is intangible and is created by intellectual effort as opposed to physical effort. In the United States， patents， copyrights and trademarks are governed by federal law. Trade secrets are governed by state law.
A patent is a governmental grant of an exclusive monopoly as an incentive and a reward for a new invention. To be patentable， an idea must be novel， useful and no obvious. In the U.S.， the owner of a patent controls the right to make， sell and use a product for a period of seventeen years and a design for fourteen years. If one manufactures， sells， or uses a patented invention without authorization of the patent owner， he has probably committed patent infringement. The infringement exists even if the infringer did not know about the patent. Infringers can be liable for damages and may be enjoined from future infringement.