Generally, intellectual property is intangible and is created by intellectual effort as opposed to physical effort. In the United States, patents, copyrights and trademarks² are governed by federal law. Trade secrets are governed by state law.

　　一般来说,知识产权是无形的并且是由相对于体力劳动的智力劳动创造的。在美国，专利权、版权和商标权是由联邦法管辖的，而商业秘密是由州法律管辖。

　　A patent is a governmental grant of an exclusive monopoly as an incentive³ and a reward for a new invention. To be patentable, an idea must be novel, useful and nonobvious. 1In the U. S. A. , the owner of a patent controls the right to make, sell and use a product for a period of seventeen years and a design for fourteen years. If one manufactures, sells, or uses a patented invention without authorization⁴ of the patent owner, he has probably committed patent infringement⁵. The infringement exists even if the infringer⁶ did not know about the patent. Infringers can be liable for damages and may be enjoined⁷ from future infringement.

　　专利权是政府对一项新发明授予的独占的权利，以给予该发明以鼓励和奖励，一项具有专利性的想法必须具备新颖性、实用性和非显著性。在美国，专利权人对产品的制作、销售及使用有十七年的控制权，而设计是十四年。如果某人未经专利权人授权而制造、销售及使用该专利发明，那么他就可能是专利侵权行为。即使侵权人不了解专利侵权依然存在。侵权人可以要求赔偿并且禁止以后侵权。

　　However, the party challenged with patent infringement can escape liability in a variety of ways. One way is by proving that the challenged product or process is outside the scope of the patent. Another way is by proving that the patent is invalid⁸ because it fails to meet the criteria⁹ for patentability. A third way is to establish that the patent holder¹⁰ has misused¹² the patent. Misuse¹¹ of a patent occurs when a patent holder uses the patent to achieve something illegally. The most common type of misuse occurs when the patent holder uses the patent to violate the antitrust laws.

　　然而，被质疑专利侵权的一方可以用许多方式逃避责任。一个方式是证明被质疑的产品或过程是在专利的领域之外。另一个方式是证明由于专利未能满足专利性的标准而无效。第三个方式是证实专利权人滥用专利。当一个专利权人利用专利去非法的完成某些事时，专利滥用就发生了。最常见的滥用专利权常发生在专利权人利用其专利违反反垄断法的时候。

　　A copyright protects the physical expression of intellectual or artistic¹³ effort, not the idea. A copyright is effective for the life of the creator plus fifty years. Anyone who creates an original work is protected by an automatic common law copyright. Published materials without statutory copyright protection are said to him in the public domain¹⁴ and may be used by anyone, without the consent of the creator, 3To obtain statutory copyright protection, materials must be published with the copyright notice, which takes the form of the word "copyright" or the abbreviation copr. , or the symbol (c) followed by the name of the copyright owner. Copyrights may be registered with the Register of Copyright and copies of the copyrighted material are provided by the Library of Congress. If one violates the copyright created by the copyright notice, he may only be enjoined from future violations¹⁵. If he violates a copyright created by registration¹⁶, he may be liable for damages, fines or imprisonment¹⁷. Owners of copyrights may assign their ownership to others.

　　版权保护的是对智力或艺术成果的有形描述，而不是主意。版权的保护期是创作者的终身再加五十年。任何人创作了作品之后都自动受到普通法版权的保护，未获成文法版权保护的出版物被称为在公共领域，任何人都可以不经作者同意而使用。要想获得成文法版权的保护，作品出版时必须有版权标志，其形式有单词"copyright"或缩写"copr."及附有版权人姓名的符号c。版权可以向版权登记簿登记并且国会图书馆将提供作品的复印件。如果侵犯了通过版权标志受到保护的版权，侵权人可能仅仅被禁止再侵权行为；但如果侵犯了注册版权，侵权人便会承担支付损害赔偿，罚款或被监禁的法律责任。版权人可以转让他们的权利给其他人。

　　A trademark¹ is a mark on goods that distinguishes the marked goods from competing goods. The mark may be a word, picture or design. In order to qualify as a trademark, the mark must not be overly descriptive or generic¹⁸. Trademarks are protected through registration. Unauthorized use of the registered trademarks of others is illegal. Public perception plays a significant role in trademark law. If the public comes to perceive that a trademark is generic, it will lose its legal status as a trademark. Public perception can also create a legal right for an attribute of a product. If a product's shape or style or features are arbitrary and nonfunctional, and the general public comes to view these features as associated with a particular product, they are said to have acquired a secondary meaning, which may be registered and protected.

　　商标是用来区别被标记的商品和相竞争的商品间的商品标记。商标可以是一个词，画或者设计。为了符合商标的标准，标记不能过度描述的或普通的。商标通过注册保护。未经授权使用他人注册商标是违法的。公众的认知在商标法中扮演着一个重要的角色。如果公众开始认为某个商标是普通的，它将会失去商标的法律地位。公众的认知也能为产品的某个性质创造法律权利。如果一产品的形状、式样或特征是任意的且不具备功能性的，如果公众将其视为与特定的产品有联系的话，它就被称为取得了引申义，那么该形状、式样或特征也可以注册并受到保护。

　　A trade secret may consist of any formula, device or compilation¹⁹ of information which is used in one's business, and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it. Trade secrets must be kept secret. To qualify for protection, the secret must give the firm a competitive advantage. Unlike patents and copyrights, there is no time limit on the life of a trade secret. It is effective as long as the secrecy²⁰ is maintained. The law protects trade secrets from wrongful appropriation²¹. This does not mean that a competitor cannot use the same manufacturing process. It only means that the competitor must arrive at the idea independently.

　　一个商业秘密可能由在某个公司使用的公式、设计及信息编辑等组成，并且该商业秘密赋予它机会去得到优势超过不知道或未使用该秘密的竞争者。商业秘密必需保有秘密。要符合保护的标准，该秘密必须给予公司竞争性的优势。不象专利和版权，商业秘密没有时间限制。只要控制着秘密，它就有效。法律保护商业秘密不被非法窃取。这并不意味着竞争者不能使用同样的制造过程。它仅仅意味竞争者必须独立的得到这个主意