Intellectual property (IP) allows you to own things that you create in a similar way to owning physical property. You can control the use of your IP and use it to gain reward. This encourages further innovation and creativity. The four main types of IP are

1. COPYRIGHT. This protects meterial such as litriture, art, music, sound recordings, film, etc.

2. DESIGN. This protects the visual appearence or eye appeal of products.

3. TRADE MARK. This protects signs that can be distinguish the goods or service of one trader from those of another.

4. PATENT. This protects the technical and functional aspects of products and processes.