FAQ
- What is Intellectual Property?
- Intellectual property (IP) are ideas, designs, and creative works and represents the legal rights of their rightful owner. Proof of ownership can be supported in courts with official registrations as patents, industrial designs, copyrights and trade-marks. Learn more on IP.
- What is the Canadian Intellectual Property Office's role?
- The Canadian Intellectual Property Office's (CIPO) is the authoritative body in Canada for the large majority of IP matters and is responsible for the recording of patents, trade-marks, industrial designs and copyrights in Canada. Read more.
- What is a patent?
- Patents are government grants that give inventors exclusive rights to their inventions. Read more.
- FAQ on patents
- What is a trade-mark?
- A trade-mark is a word (or words), a design, or a combination of these, used to identify the goods or services of one person or organization and to distinguish these goods or services from those of others in the marketplace. Read more.
- FAQ on trade-marks
- What is a copyright?
- Copyright is the exclusive right to copy a creative work or allow someone else to do so. Read more.
- FAQ on copyrights
- What is an industrial design?
- An industrial design is the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament (or any combination of these) applied to a finished article. Read more.
- FAQ on industrial designs
- What is an integrated circuit topography?
- An integrated circuit topography refers to the three-dimensional configuration of the electronic circuits used in microchips and semiconductor chips.
- FAQ on integrated circuit topographies
