Intellectual property (IP) is any creation of a person’s mind. IP includes inventions, artistic or scholarly works and symbols. In the United States, intellectual property is protected through laws, customs and personal discretion. See the sidebar to the right for a list of examples of intellectual property.
As a graduate student at UC Berkeley, you’ll be using others’ intellectual property and creating your own as well. It’s important, therefore, that you learn to recognize intellectual property — and potential intellectual property — and that you know your rights and responsibilities as they pertain to IP.
There are four types of intellectual property and different laws that protect each type. Click on the links below to learn more about each type.