DEV Community

tryexceptpass

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.

Episode source