Property does not only comprise of tangible things like homes, cars, furniture, money, investments etc and such property are not the only kind that can be safeguarded by law. Other types of property which are intangible in form also exist. They are termed intellectual property and these are also protected by the law. The three main kinds of intellectual property rights are copyrights, trademarks and patents.

When the creator has brought out an original piece, he or she owns the copyright over this work and is granted protection for them. This right may be awarded for songs, films, paintings and other types of artistic expressions and not just the literary or published material. Under copyright law, the owner of the work gets a number of rights which include monetary rights to income arising from the work and acceptance as sole owner of that work.

In contrast, trademarks give the person who has registered it, the protection over certain graphical representations, words or marks which point to the creator or origin of products to thwart replication and misuse. Trademark protection gives the owner complete safety from unscrupulous use of his own symbol by others to mislead customers.

The final intellectual property right is a patent, which is granted to inventors to protect their original and useful creations and inventions. Patents are valid for a predetermined span within which the holder can enforce his exclusive right to sale and other commercial use of his invention.

There are some other less common types of intellectual properties that can be owned by people. Knowledge carried forward from generation to generation in a specific sect; exclusive and secret components or recipes which go into creating successful products like Coca Cola; and geographical position based descriptions, which refer to certain merchandise like Champagne, are some examples of this kind of intellectual property.

Though these forms of intellectual property are distinct from each other there are certain similarities between the three. All of these are protected within the provisions of the law and the rightful holders can take legal action in a court of law and claim compensation in case of any infringement.