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.
Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 39,284 at the 2000 census, with an estimated increase to 41,796 in 2008. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses those jurisdictions and all of Montgomery, Pulaski, and Giles counties for statistical purposes. The MSA has an estimated population of 158,328 and is currently one of the faster growing MSAs in Virginia. Blacksburg is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (better known as Virginia Tech), a Virginia land-grant university. Blacksburg is the largest town in Virginia by population. There are many larger municipalities, but they are incorporated as cities.