IP Gives Ideas
Room to Grow.
Intellectual property gives creators, inventors and businesses choices about how their work is used, shared, licensed and brought to market.
THE JOURNEY OF AN IDEA
1
CREATE
It starts with an idea.
Creators, inventors and businesses develop new products, technologies, brands and creative works.
2
PROTECT
IP rights provide choices.
Patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets can give rights holders greater control over how their work is used.
3
LICENSE
Ownership doesn't have to mean keeping others out.
IP can be licensed, allowing others to use an invention, work or brand under agreed terms.
4
GROW
Ideas can reach further.
Licensing, partnerships and investment can help ideas reach new markets, audiences and applications.
PROTECTION CREATES CHOICE
IP rights can provide a framework for deciding how an idea or creative work is used. Depending on the type of IP and the owner's goals, those choices can include:
USE IT
Develop and commercialize the idea yourself.
LICENSE IT
Allow others to use it under agreed terms.
SHARE IT
Choose broad access, including open or royalty-free licensing where appropriate.
ENFORCE IT
Act when protected IP is used without authorization.
FREEDOM THROUGH LICENSING
IP rights don't always have to be used to exclude.
Open Invention Network uses patents and cross-licensing to support freedom of action in Linux and open-source software. Members gain access to patents on a royalty-free basis while agreeing not to assert their own patents against the Linux System.
