---
name: IP Basics
description: Protect and respect intellectual property.
---
# Intellectual Property Basics

IP is a bundle of distinct rights. Confusing them leads to both under-protection (losing your own rights) and infringement (violating others').

## The four main types
- **Patent.** Protects inventions (useful, novel, non-obvious). Utility patents ~20 years from filing. Protects *how it works*.
- **Copyright.** Protects original expression (code, text, art) the moment it's fixed. Automatic; registration enables enforcement. Protects *how it's expressed*, not the idea.
- **Trademark.** Protects brand identifiers (names, logos) used in commerce. Lasts as long as used. Protects *source identification*.
- **Trade secret.** Protects information with economic value that's kept secret (formulas, processes). Lasts as long as it's secret; ends the moment it leaks.

## Common errors
- Assuming employees' work is automatically assigned. It often isn't without an explicit IP assignment clause.
- Using a name without clearance search — you can build a brand for years and lose it to a prior trademark.