IP rights are legal rights protected by governments granting innovators the right to limit or control the use of IP by others.
Harutyunyan et al, Sunwater Institute Scholar, Economics PhD, 22 (Ani, Edison Innovation Law and Policy Fellow at George Mason University, PhD in Economics, Matthew Chervenak, President of the Sunwater Institute, and Mark Cohen, Senior Fellow at Berkeley Center of Law and Technology, “Measuring Intellectual Property Rights: Existing Indices, Addressing Gaps and Suggestions for Policymakers,” Policy Report #128963 OCTOBER 2022 https://sunwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SWI-Policy-Report-Measuring-IP-Rights.pdf Accessed 7/18/24)
Intellectual Property (IP) rights are legal rights granted and/or protected by governments to ensure innovators benefit from their intellectual creations. IP rights include patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other forms.
Intellectual property rights are territorial; that is, they are defined and protected according to national laws. National governments grant a legal right to holders of such rights to limit or control the use of their IP rights by others, often for a period of time and with certain limited exceptions. IP rights holders may also pursue commercialization of their rights and/or allow others to leverage their innovations in return for fees or collaboration.