Editing Sui generis (section)

===Intellectual property law===
Generally speaking, protection for [[intellectual property]] extends to intellectual creations to incentivize innovation and depends upon the nature of the work and its ''characteristics''.<ref>{{cite web |title=What is Intellectual Property? |url=https://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/ |publisher=World Intellectual Property Organization |access-date=February 14, 2025}}</ref> The main types of intellectual property law are: [[copyright]], which protects creative works; [[patent]], which protects invention; [[trade secret]], which protects information not generally known or readily ascertainable that is valuable to the secret holder; and [[trademark]], which protects branding and other exclusive properties of products and services. Any matter that meets these criteria can be protected.

{{lang|la|Sui generis}} statutes exist in many countries that extend intellectual property protection to matter that does not meet characteristic definitions. For example, [[integrated circuit layout design protection|integrated circuit layouts]], [[Hull (watercraft)|ship hull designs]], [[fashion design]]s in France, [[database right|databases]], and [[Plant variety (law)|plant varieties]] require {{lang|la|sui generis}} statutes because of their unique characteristics. The United States, Japan, Australia, and many EU countries protect the topography of semiconductor chips and [[integrated circuits]] under ''sui generis'' laws, which borrow some aspects from patent or copyright law. In the U.S., this {{lang|la|sui generis}} law is known as the [[Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984]].