Intellectual property is the right (or lack of right) to own an idea or piece of information. This information could take many different forms such as books, movies, music, or software. It could even be the rights to an invention, a patent. The idea of intellectual property stems from the older idea of tangible property. It raises the question of whether property is a right that all humans naturally have, or if it is one that is granted by various legal systems. This basic definition, in turn, affects the way that we view intellectual property and make laws about it. Some other characteristics of property that affect this are:

• Tangibility - Whether or not the property is a physical object. Intellectual property is, by definition, intangible
• Movability - Most tangible items like cars or food can be moved around. However, other forms of property like land or buildings cannot. Using technology, Intellectual property can be transported across the world almost instantaneously. This is one of its main advantages in today's society.
• Exclusivity - If a piece of property is exclusive, it means that only one person can own it and use it. For example, if someone buys a car, only one person can drive it at a time. However, in the digital age, information can be copied, which means that most intellectual property is not exclusive.
• Scarcity - The value of property is affected by how scarce it is. However, scarcity really only applies to exclusive property since non-exclusive property can just be copied to anyone who wants it. For this reasons, computer scientists have tried to develop methods like product keys and DRM protection to make data exclusive.

There is much debate on the topic of intellectual property. As new laws are created, society hopes to create a system that is as fair as possible. One of the basic issues at the core of the Intellectual Property relates to tangibility. Some argue that property shouldn't be treated any differently just because it is intangible. Others argue that giving one person explicit ownership over an idea is essentially creating a monopoly where they can charge any amount of money without competition. They argue that this is detrimental to society because it doesn't allow competitors to improve on the original idea and move forward. However, this motive brings up another important point: If someone can't own and profit from an idea they create, do they have any incentive to create it in the first place? Proponents of intellectual commons would argue that strict regulations on intellectual property hurts developing countries. These countries need information relating to urban planning, medicine, education, and countless other areas, and free access would greatly boost their productivity. Another issue that isn't discussed as much as the other issues is the feasibility of regulating intellectual property. New ways of sharing information are constantly being created, which makes it difficult for any government or other entity to control the flow of information. At what point does the attempt to regulate intellectual property use more resources than it's worth?

There are three major types of intellectual property laws.

• Trademarks - Allow a business to own slogans, logos, and other things that allow consumers to recognize the company.
• Copyright - Allow an artist to own his or her work. This helps ensure that the original creator makes all of the profit for the work and others can't plagiarize it.
• Patent - Allow an inventor to own his or her invention. This works similarly to a copyright because it ensures that the original creator makes a profit. However, it is generally acceptable for competitors to create a somewhat similar invention and sell it.
• Since laws differ from country to country, it makes it difficult to regulate intellectual property on the internet.

• The Pirate Bay is a website that lists torrents, which allow users to find content and download it from other users. The underlying technology is not illegal, but it is often used in violation of copyright law, since people use it to download music and movies. In April 2009, the two owners of this website were convicted of ‘assisting in making copyright content available.’ They recieved a year in jail and almost a million dollar fine apiece.¹⁾

• In 1994, the supreme court ruled that a parody of another work did not infringe on copyright law. This issue was brought up when Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. sued the members of a rap group, 2 Live Crew, on the grounds that they had infringed on “Oh Pretty Woman,” a song by Roy Orbison. This ruling was important because it created a less stringent definition of fair use.²⁾

• In 2009, a man named Robert L. Henderson received two years in prison for sneaking a video camera into a showing of The Dark Night. This shows that the recording of this movie is considered to be intellectual theft from the owners of the movie.³⁾