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.
Piedmont is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. Piedmont lies in the Racetrack or Red Valley which circles most of the Black Hills. Piedmont takes its name from the French words pied (foot) and mont (mountain) and the fact that the town lies at a point where the Black Hills rise particularly abruptly from the Red Valley. Although newly incorporated (since July 2008), Piedmont has been inhabited since the coming of the railroad in the 1800s. Piedmont is mostly a bedroom community to nearby Rapid City, but also has construction and forest products businesses nearby. The Piedmont area has experienced three large forest fires since 2003,the Piedmont, Ricco, and Eastridge Fires. In August, 2007 Piedmont experienced a flood rated as a 100-year event in which 6" of rain fell in less than an hour, with runoff exacerbated by the steep terrain burned in the Ricco Fire. The flooding was accompanied by up to baseball-sized hail. Piedmont has been assigned the ZIP Code of 57769.