| Abstract: | Research institutions such as federal laboratories spend billions of dollars annually to develop new technologies. Recently there has been an overwhelming trend to encourage the licensing of these technologies to private industry. Without proper protection, they will be neither marketable nor licensable, as they could fall within the public domain, for free and unrestrained use. Few options effectively protect new technologies; these options are referred to as intellectual property.This article introduces basic concepts of intellectual property, with a special emphasis on patents. It considers intellectual property management and its influence on government and business. |
