Dictionary

intellectual property en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

First use appears c. 1769.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) A kind of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect, such as patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
   • The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled. 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
   • According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle. 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
   • What Netflix really covets is closer to its current competencies: WBD's “intellectual property”, or in plain English, franchises such as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Friends, pictured, and The Sopranos. 2025 December 6, “Netflix’s WBD deal swaps history for fantasy”, in FT Weekend (Lex section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 24:
2. (countable, usually) Any individual work that is protected under intellectual property law.
   • One area of current change concerns intellectual properties and intellectual property rights. "Intellectual Property Rights in Agriculture"
   • For technology companies, a well-constructed system for managing intellectual properties is fundamental to being able to extract full value from the properties "Profiting from Intellectual Capital: Extracting Value from Innovation" By Patrick H. Sullivan

Forms

Synonyms

IP

Translations (41)

ko 지적재산 (product of someone's intellect) · da immaterialret (product of someone's intellect) · es propiedad intelectual (product of someone's intellect) · kk зияткерлік меншік (product of someone's intellect) · fi immateriaaliomaisuus (individual work) · mn мэдлэгийн бүтээгдэхүүн (product of someone's intellect) · vi sở hữu trí tuệ (product of someone's intellect) · el διανοητική ιδιοκτησία (product of someone's intellect) · ms harta intelektual (product of someone's intellect) · de geistiges Eigentum (product of someone's intellect) · nl intellectueel eigendom (product of someone's intellect) · fi immateriaaliomaisuuteen kuuluva teos (individual work) · nl intellectueel eigendom (individual work) · cmn 知識財產 /知识财产 (product of someone's intellect) · cmn 智慧財產 /智慧财产 (product of someone's intellect) · hy մտավոր սեփականություն (product of someone's intellect) · fi immateriaalioikeudet (product of someone's intellect) · cmn 知識產權 /知识产权 (product of someone's intellect) · pl własność intelektualna (product of someone's intellect) · bo རིག་ནོར (product of someone's intellect) · mn мэдлэгийн өмч (product of someone's intellect) · id kekayaan intelektual (product of someone's intellect) · gl propiedade intelectual (product of someone's intellect) · ka ინტელექტუალური საკუთრება (product of someone's intellect) · ja 知的財産 (product of someone's intellect) · pt propriedade intelectual (product of someone's intellect) · ro proprietate intelectuală (product of someone's intellect) · yue 知識產權 /知识产权 (product of someone's intellect) · ru интеллектуа́льная со́бственность (product of someone's intellect) · cmn 知識產品 /知识产品 (individual work) · sv immaterialrätt (product of someone's intellect) · ar مِلْكِيَّة فِكْرِيَّة (product of someone's intellect) · he קניין רוחני (product of someone's intellect) · pl własność intelektualna (individual work) · da intellektuel ejendomsret (product of someone's intellect) · mn оюуны өмч (product of someone's intellect) · uk інтелектуа́льна вла́сність (product of someone's intellect) · cs duševní vlastnictví (product of someone's intellect) · fr propriété intellectuelle (product of someone's intellect) · az əqli mülkiyyət (product of someone's intellect) · bo བསམ་བློའི་རྒྱུ་ནོར (product of someone's intellect)