Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets. Intellectual property law involves advising and assisting individuals and businesses on the development, use, and protection of intellectual property -- which includes ideas, artistic creations, engineering processes, scientific inventions, and more.
Beaverton is a city in Gladwin County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,106 at the 2000 census. The city is adjacent to Beaverton Township and incorporates some land formerly in the township. According to Romig's Michigan Place Names, the community was first settled by lumbermen in about 1863 and was first known as Grand Forks, after the confluence of the Tobacco and Cedar rivers. It has been continuously settled since 1875. The town was founded in 1890 by the Donald Gunn Ross & Sons lumber company, from Beaverton, Ontario. Donald Ross became the first postmaster on February 17, 1891. Romig cites the city clerk of Beaverton that it incorporated as a village in 1901. However, Powers gives the date as 1896. It incorporated as a city in 1903, with William Ross as the first mayor. Powers gives the first settler's name as Marvil Secord, originally from Brantford, Ontario, and who is also recognized as the first permanent settler in Gladwin County. It was a station on the Toledo-Ludington line of the Pere Marquette Railroad.