There is an unnerving trend facing American businesses today: small companies are finding themselves embroiled in legal battles with an alarming frequency. These independent businesses, many of which are small-scale operations that survive on a meager budget, are faced with defending their intellectual property rights- everything from their company name to the items they produce and sell. Legal battles over intellectual property have a varied effect on the general public, who will eventually pay the price of court cases aimed at those who lack the available means to fight back.

In order to understand the current battle, one must first understand what Intellectual Property is. Intellectual Property is defined as "Property that derives from the work of the mind or intellect; specif An idea, invention, trade secret, process, program, data, formula, patent, copyright, or trademark or application, right, or registration relating thereto". (1) What does this mean in layman's terms? Intellectual property is an item with commercial value, such as a new purse design, that can be protected by patent, trademark or copyright law.

Many business owners in the United States are surprised to find that Intellectual Property rights originated with the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8)(2), which states that Congress shall have the power