Grocery shopping is like defining IP ownership in an agreement.
You ask a friend to pick up some "vegetables" from the store for a salad.
An hour later, they show up with 2 bags:
🛒 Bag #1: tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini and eggplant 🍆
🛒 Bag #2: spinach, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, and onions 🥕
To your frustration, they give you bag #2 and walk out with bag #1. You really wanted tomato and cucumbers for the salad.
Why? Strictly speaking, bag #1 is full of fruits, not vegetables.
Now, if you had asked for "all vegetables for a salad, including tomatoes and cucumbers (whether or not considered fruit)," you’d have been covered. You'd get both bags.
The same goes for defining intellectual property in contracts.
You can write that you own all patents in your product, but not all inventions or processes may be patentable.
So if you want to protect your ownership, make sure that you are specific - define what’s yours, even if it’s not traditionally protected.
And a final note to my family reading this post: Please don't write "stuff for a salad" on the grocery list 😄.
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