intellectual property(redirected from Intellectual property right infringement)
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a legal concept encompassing copyrights; rights relating to the activities of performing artists, sound recordings, radio and television broadcasts; invention and patent rights; rights to scientific discoveries; rights to industrial models, trademarks, firm names, and commercial designations; and protection from unfair competition; as well as all other rights relating to intellectual activities in industrial, scientific, literary, and artistic fields. The concept came into international use in the 1960’s. In 1967 a convention was signed in Stockholm establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization. The convention went into force in 1970. As of Jan. 1, 1972,25 states had joined the convention, including the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the USA.