From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishintellectual propertyˌintellectual ˈproperty noun [uncountable] law SCLsomething which someone has invented or has the right to make or sell, especially something that cannot legally be copied by other people
Examples from the Corpus
intellectual property• Effective intellectual property protection underpins this continued research and development.• The action stems from a letter Apple sent Quorum lawyers on March 17 accusing it of infringing its intellectual property rights.• No one knows how the law of intellectual property will evolve in the face of such developments.• Arguments over intellectual property rights and re-writing code have been doing the rounds of the court system for years.• They reaffirm the importance of recognizing intellectual property rights.• The United States sees intellectual property rights as sacred, said Thomas Klitgaard, an attorney specializing in international law.From Longman Business Dictionaryintellectual propertyintelˌlectual ˈproperty [countable, uncountable]LAW an idea, design, or artistic work which a person or organization has invented or created and on which they have obtained a COPYRIGHT, TRADEMARK, or PATENTThe country’s indifference to (=lack of caring about) copyright protection not only hurts foreign creators of intellectual property, such as software makers, but it discourages home-grown creativity too.Microsoft’s regional manager for intellectual property rights → property 