IP Delimitations: A Managerial Point of View

In the context of knowledge-based economy, along with the growing importance of the intangible assets, and along with the changing criteria for defining the competitive advantages, the intellectual property related issues are increasingly addressed. The specific literature is replete with all sorts of approaches regarding the intellectual property, using a series of terms, more or less defined or explained. In this context, the lack of boundaries, at least relative ones, between different terms, may create confusion among the readers. This article intends to explore the subject literature, to establish the empirical correlations a demarcations existing among the main terms that are used in connection with the intellectual property term and to suggests a way of graphically represent them. This approach is particularly useful to managers and is trying to establish a support for future researches.