Intellectual property generally describes the “creations” of the human mind. It is most commonly associated with copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. Each of these types of “IP” has its own bundle of property rights that may vest with the creator (whether an artist, musician, inventor, or other “creative”).
A trademark may describe a word or combination of words, a design, a symbol, or a combination of these elements that the owner uses to identify itself as the source of its goods (products) or services.
Patent protection extends to new, useful, and non-obvious processes, machines, products, or compositions.
Copyright describes the exclusive right of a person to prevent others from producing or reproducing (“copying”) all or a substantial part of a work in whatever form it may be. Works include texts, images, sculptures, and other artistic representations. These works also include all digital creations, source codes, algorithms, etc.
Industrial design refers to the aesthetic characteristics, the appearance of an object and, more particularly, the shape, configuration, pattern or decorative elements, or any combination of these features.
In many countries, these rights may be protected through laws or statutes as well as under certain judicial doctrines or “common law”.
In the U.S., you can perfect or register your intellectual property rights with the U.S. government (and individual state governments too). You can apply for patents to protect novel and non-obvious inventions and designs (e.g., machines, products, processes, or methods) for trademark registration for marks and identifiers of the source of goods, services, and industrial designs, or for copyright to register your literary, artistic, musical, or other creative work.
More information on how to register certain rights may be found at the following:
For patents and trademarks – www.ustpo.gov
For copyrights – www.copyright.gov