Intellectual Property: Beginnings

Henry George

Intellectual Property stemmed from the idea of Georgism, or Geonomics. Things in nature, especially land, is free and given by God, so should be held equally by all. People own what they create instead.

Lizzie Maggie was a big supporter of Henry George, the creator of Georgism, and built a game showing the evils of land ownership called "The Landlord's Game." Remember the board game Monopoly? Maggie’s idea kind of backfired when the game became so popular.
The term intellectual property applies to a whole host of different types of intellectual property:

1. Patents
2. Copyrights
3. Trademarks
4. Trade Secrets

People often get each of the different types confused. A patent lawyer is not the same thing as a copyright, just like a patent and a copyright are two different things.

The Original Monopoly:
The Landlord's Game