Intellectual Property (IP)

Intellectual properties (IP) are basically those that have commercial value, including copyrighted property such as literary or artistic works, and ideational property, such as patents, appellations of origin, business methods, and industrial processes.  Products or processes that are already in the public domain or that are logical extensions of the current art are not protected.  The mere existence of a patent does not necessarily indicate that the patent should have been issued in the first place; the Patent Office is as capable of error as any other institution.  For example, an individual was recently awarded a patent on curry, which must have been somewhat shocking to members of cultures that have been eating it for hundreds if not thousands of years.

User interfaces, operating characteristics, and other similar factors are as patentable as any other intellectual property.  Oftentimes, this aspect of machine design and its history are not ones which are covered in traditional engineering or science courses.  A knowledge of user interface design and development is often critical in determining what is a genuinely new and protectable development and what is simply product differentiation or “look and feel”.