Intellectual Property

"Intellectual Property" is knowledge or technique that is "owned" by an entity, providing the owner with rights of control and/or compensation. In the United States copyrights, patents and trademarks are legal methods of claiming ownership of intellectual property, and legal redress is available to the owner.

Protecting the rights of owners encourages the research investment required to develop new knowledge. However, intellectual property has become such a profitable business in the United States that there are numerous lawsuits over the rights of owners to collect. The following blog report says that Google is now trying to limit the use of its name :
http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2006/08/14/google-doesnt-want-us-to-say-googling-anymore/
I hope that this does not extend to end-users such as professors and college students.
-DD