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.
Lapeer is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Lapeer County. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,072. Most of the city was incorporated from land that was formerly in Lapeer Township, though portions were also annexed from Mayfield Township and Elba Township. The city government is politically independent of all three townships. Lapeer is located in southern Michigan, east of Flint, on the Flint River. The name is an Americanization of the French la pierre, which means 'flint' or 'flint stone'.