Soft intellectual property (also sometimes, and confusingly (see below), abbreviated to "soft IP"[1]) is sometimes used to refer to trademarks, copyright, design rights and passing off, in contrast to "hard intellectual property", which is sometimes used to refer to patents.[2][3] Use of this phrase is controversial among IP practitioners.[4][5] The phrase "soft intellectual property" or Soft IP also refers to a system for licensing patents proposed in 2008. See Soft IP.
In the semiconductor industry the term has a different meaning described at Types of IP cores.
Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft intellectual property.
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