Intellectual property (from now on, we will use the abbreviation "IP" of the word intellectual property) is a legal term, which refers to industrial property, copyright and related rights. Industrial property rights include the protection of patents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications. Industrial property rights also include the protection of layout design or topology diagram, commercial packaging and integrated circuit diagram of utility models, and the protection of unfair competition under such protection conditions, including/or the protection of undisclosed information/trade secrets. Intellectual property is actually a kind of property right or asset; Although it is intangible like knowledge, it has exactly the same (or higher) value as tangible assets or real estate. Due to the increasing importance of technology and creative works in modern economy, the value of intellectual property assets has also increased. Intellectual property rights contain new ideas, original expressions, unique names and appearances, which make products unique and valuable. Intellectual property transactions (or "licenses") are usually carried out in their own rights, not in the value of basic products or services; Generally speaking, this is achieved by granting patents or other intellectual property licenses from one right holder to another.

There are several reasons why IP is important to e-commerce and why e-commerce is important to IP. E-commerce often involves selling products and services based on intellectual property rights and their licenses, which is more prominent than other commercial systems. Music, movies, photos, software, design, training units, systems and so on can all be traded through e-commerce. In this case, IP is the main value component in the transaction process. IP is important because valuable things traded on the Internet must be protected by technical security system and intellectual property law, otherwise they will be stolen or copied, which will destroy the whole e-commerce industry.

In addition, IP is closely related to the emergence of e-commerce work. Various systems, software, networks, designs, chips, routers and switches, user interfaces, etc. All these exist in the form of intellectual property rights and are usually protected by intellectual property rights. Trademark is the basic component of e-commerce enterprises, because the brand, customer awareness and reputation as the basic component of online commerce are protected by trademark law and unfair competition law.

E-commerce enterprises and Internet-related enterprises are based on product or patent authorization. This is because creating a product requires so many different technologies, so companies often outsource the development of some product components or share technologies through licensing agreements. If every company must independently develop and produce all the technical components of each product, it will be difficult to develop high-tech products. E-commerce economy depends on the cooperation between companies, sharing business opportunities and risks through the use of licensing. Many of these companies belong to small and medium enterprises.

Finally, IP is usually of great value to e-commerce; Therefore, whether to protect your IP will affect the evaluation of your e-commerce company. Many e-commerce companies, like other technology companies, have patent portfolios and trademarks, which can enhance enterprise value.