IntroductionIntellectual property protects things that are intangible although they have value. They are valued both by law and by the market. To protect these ideas of mental work, copyright is used to protect these expressions, for example; books, newspapers, paintings, photographs, music, films and television programs are all the result of a creative process. Each of these products is covered by copyright, which protects the interests of the creator. Copyright in these products recognizes both the fact that the creator has produced an item and the creator's right to be paid for the thought and effort involved in creating it. Copyright laws protect authors' ownership of their intellectual property. Intellectual property is basically a generalized name, which is given to copyright, software licenses, trademarks, etc. Each of these forms of intellectual property is protected by the Circuit Layouts Act 1989. The Act protects the layout design of integrated circuits; it also protects three-dimensional location plans, which represent the electrical components of an integrated circuit from the plans. Computer software and files are no different from artistic products because creating them also involves a lot of thought and effort. Copyright laws cover software. Since the production and maintenance of application software requires a lot of money, skill, time and effort, copyright also protects the significant monetary investment made by the software company. The main problems with software are the ease of copying and the difficulty of detecting copyright violations. License agreements specify the legal framework within which the program can be used. Licensed software gives us...... middle of paper...... to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing limited rights to their respective writings and discoveries. »1790 The first American federal copyright law protects the author of any “book, map or graphic” for a renewable term of 14 years. 1976 Congress passes the Copyright Revision Act of 1976 after 20 years of study. Great technological advances, particularly in video, photography, radio, television, and photocopiers, have “extended” previous copyright protections. 1990 The Visual Artists' Rights Act is passed by Congress, which protects the attribution and integrity rights of artists. Covers paintings, drawings, photographs, prints and sculptures. Although advancements in copyright laws have made them very ineffective, as are most other laws. Piracy took over and people stopped paying for music, movies, online books and software..