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Intellectual Property

This article discusses the main types of intellectual property and their application to open source within financial services.

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Types of Intellectual Property​

Trademarks​

Protects symbols, names, and slogans used to identify goods or services.

Protects original works of authorship, such as writings, music, and art.

Patents​

Protects inventions or discoveries for a limited period, granting the inventor exclusive rights to the invention.

Trade Secrets​

Protects confidential business information that provides a competitive edge.

Information Classification​

Information classification is closely related to intellectual property because it determines whether material can be treated as public, kept internal, or restricted to a smaller audience. This matters directly when deciding whether code, documentation, or related materials are safe to publish to open source repositories.

For more detail, see Information Classification.

Further Reading​

  • Information Classification: how organisations classify information before publication.
  • Patents: how patents support open source innovation, including financial services examples.
  • Licenses: main article on Software Licenses.