Intellectual property (IP) refers to legal rights protecting creations of the mind—inventions, artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images. Main IP types include: patents (protecting inventions for 20 years), copyrights (protecting creative works like books, music, software for the creator's life plus 70 years), trademarks (protecting brand names and logos indefinitely if maintained), and trade secrets (protecting confidential business information). IP laws balance rewarding creators to incentivize innovation against public access to knowledge. In Canada, intellectual property is federal jurisdiction, administered by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Municipalities encounter IP in software licensing, contractor agreements (who owns custom-developed systems?), and protecting their own brands and creations. Understanding basic IP concepts helps students appreciate how creative works are protected and the debates around IP duration, fair use, and digital-age challenges to traditional IP frameworks.