Intellectual Property (IP) can be generally defined or described as the products of the mind or 'mental manufacturing'. The main areas of Intellectual Property are Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights. One of the things that you should know about IP is that there is overlap between the areas of law. It is possible that a single device can be patented, trademarked, and copyrighted. A device can be patented if the underlying components, processes, and materials add up to a novel and unique invention. That same device or product can be trademarked if it has a logo, name, or other symbol which acts as a source identifier. Moreover, the device can have some copyrightable elements if there is various artwork expression which is unique.

If you are like most business owners, you would like to someday sell your business or corporation sometime down the road. And, as any business owner realizes, the process of appraising the value of a business is largely subjective, ambiguous, and arbitrary. That is where IP comes into play.