101: What is Intellectual Property (IP)?

Source: Worrington

When I told my friends that I was working in an IP-related job, they always cry out “What the hell?” in their minds. (Needless to say, I'm a patent engineer)

當我告訴朋友我從事與智慧財產權相關的工作時，他們總是在心中想著“到底是什麼？” 。 （更不用說，我是一名專利工程師）

For better understanding, I prefer to say "I'm working in a legal-related job"  or "I'm a paralegal".

為了更好地理解，我更喜歡說「我從事法律相關工作」或「我是律師助理」。

To a certain extent, I did not introduce myself wrongly. I have been working with and reporting to an in-house patent attorney or an in-house legal counsel for the past 5 years.

從某種程度上來說，我沒有錯誤地自我介紹。在過去 5 年裡，我均是與公司專利律師或公司法律顧問合作並向他們匯報。

When you google "What is Intellectual Property (IP)", the first result should be something like: 

當你Google「什麼是知識產權(台:智慧財產權)」時，第一個大約應該是這樣的：

Intellectual property is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect.

智慧財產權是一類無形財產，包括人類智力的創造。 

Source: Wikipedia

Therefore, many people may have thought that IP is an asset. More than an asset, IP is a means for encouraging the creation of industries. Therefore, when many people say "There are four types of IP", I prefer to say " There are various means for protecting your IP rights, the most common means are Trademarks, Patents, Copyrights, and Trade Secrets"

因此，很多人可能認為IP是一種資產。事實上，智慧財產權不僅是一種資產，也是鼓勵產業創造的手段。因此，當很多人說“智慧財產權有四種”時，我更傾向說“保護智慧財產權的手段有很多種，最常見的手段是商標、專利、版權(台:著作權)及營業祕密”

I kicked off my journey in the Intellectual property field 7 years ago and learned by doing in the past 3 years. I see many newcomers are at a loss when they come, don't know what they did and their future. To contribute more in this field, I would like to share what I know about IP, my feelings, and also useful information to (i) the person who wanna entering the IP field; (ii) a person who has the technical background (engineering, IT, science...)or legal background and seeking a job; and (iii) the person interested in IP.

七年前，我開始了知識產權領域的旅程，在過去的三年裡，我邊做邊學。 我看到很多新人來的時候都很茫然，不知道自己做了什麼，也不知道自己的未來。 為了在這個領域做出更多的貢獻，我想把我對智慧財產權的了解、我的感受以及有用的資訊分享給（i）想進入智慧財產權領域的人； (ii) 具有技術背景（工程、IT、科學…）或法律背景且正在尋找工作的人； (iii) 對智慧財產權有興趣的人。

In this tidy-up Blogger, apart from sharing travel information as usual, and sharing IP-related matters, I would like to share my Taiwan daily in the past two years. You may have noticed that I have made special remarks about some wording used in Taiwan in order to let the Taiwanese understand even if they don't know the wording in Hong Kong and English. As I observed, even those skilled in the Taiwan IP field, would not be willing to begin their business in English. Hope this blogger can help them a little bit.

在這個整理的Blogger裡，除了照常分享旅遊資訊、分享IP相關的事情之外，我還會分享一下這兩年我在台灣的日常。大家可能注意到了，我對台灣的一些用語做了特別說明，目的是讓台灣人即使不懂香港語和英語的用語也能理解。 據我觀察，即使是台灣知識產權領域的專家，也不願意用英語開始他們的業務。希望部落客能給他們一點幫助。