should apply. There is also a body of law known as trade secrets. Even if a company does not have a patent on

an invention, competing firms are not allowed to steal their secrets. One famous trade secret is the formula for

Coca-Cola, which is not protected under copyright or patent law, but is simply kept secret by the company.

Taken together, we call this combination of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secret law intellectual

property, because it implies ownership over an idea, concept, or image, not a physical piece of property like a

house or a car. Countries around the world have enacted laws to protect intellectual property, although the

time periods and exact provisions of such laws vary across countries. There are ongoing negotiations, both

through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and through international treaties, to bring

greater harmony to the intellectual property laws of different countries to determine the extent to which those
{"file_size_mb": 26.99, "file_name": "Microeconomics3e.pdf", "batch_upload": true, "title": "Principles of Microeconomics 3e", "source_file": "downloads\\business\\economics\\Microeconomics3e.pdf", "upload_timestamp": "2026-02-07T15:24:38.309401", "creator": "PDFMiner", "uploaded_via": "batch_uploader", "total_pages": 597, "file_type": ".pdf", "producer": "Prince 14.2 (www.princexml.com)", "creationdate": "2022-12-07T14:15:44-06:00", "source": "downloads\\business\\economics\\Microeconomics3e.pdf", "moddate": "2022-12-07T14:23:05-06:00", "file_hash": "830b81f41611ac67a490444dbb5d6aed292224606965b06965b914443c93331a"}