Our Goals
Helping a range of audiences better understand intellectual property and IP rights, and their role in innovation, commerce and society.
Our Mission
Advancing intellectual property awareness to empower people, strengthen innovation, and benefit society.
IP awareness is everyone's business
The purpose of intellectual property, like copyrights and trademarks, is unclear to most people. A better understanding of how IP works — and how it impacts business and society — benefits everyone.
Impact, Attitudes, Reputation
The Center facilitates discussion of IP and shares information about the impact of IP rights – patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.
CIPU helps audiences understand how invention rights and creative expression facilitate innovation, support commerce and improve society. The organization monitors IP attitudes and seeks to improve IP’s reputation.
What people are saying about CIPU
“Having spent my career at the intersection of intellectual property and technology commercialization, I strongly believe that innovation thrives when people understand the purpose and value of IP rights.
The Center for IP Understanding has been instrumental in improving IP literacy, dispelling misinformation, and helping audiences appreciate how patents, copyrights, brands, and trade secrets support investment, job creation and transparency. In a world increasingly shaped by AI and intangible assets, CIPU’s mission has never been more important.”
Brian Hinman, Former Senior IP Business Executive, Philips, IBM, Verizon, InterDigital; Member, IP Hall of Fame
