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Patent: A patent may be granted for an invention of “any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.” A patent establishes a property right that allows the holder to exclude others from using the invention; that is, a patent grants a monopoly to the inventor. Patents are also granted for designs and for plants as well as for business methods. The principal type of patent is a utility patent, which has a duration of 20 years beginning with the filing of the patent application with the Patent and Trademark Office.
Copyright: Works of original expression may receive a copyright allowing the recipient to restrict use, reproduction, and distribution of the work. A copyright can be claimed even without a filing with the government. The issue of what may be copyrighted has required both legislation and court interpretation.
Trade secrets: A trade secret is almost anything that is unique and of value or potential value to a company. This includes process information, operating methods, programs, and business plans. To receive protection the information must be adequately protected by the company on a continual basis. Trade secret protection can be perpetual, and the secrets do not have to be registered. Remedies for violations of trade secrets include injunctions and compensatory damages. Trade secret law has been used to prohibit employees who move from one company to another to take along information from their former employer.
Trademarks: A trademark provides social and private value. The social value results from reducing search costs for consumers by allowing branding of products. Branding can also support a reputation for quality, uniformity, or service. Remedies for infringement can take the form of injunctions and compensatory damages. The requirement for a trademark is distinctiveness.

Courts use two basic types of remedies in the event of breach: damages and specific performance. Damages can be compensatory for the harm caused or punitive. Compensation for foreseeable damages depends on the baseline used by the courts. One baseline is to leave the plaintiff as well off as she expected to be if the contract terms had been fulfilled. These expectations damages can differ from the amount required to allow the plaintiff to contract with someone else for the provision of the product or service. Consequential damages are based on the opportunity cost of the next best alternative. Another rule for awarding damages is to put the promisee in the same position she had been in prior to signing the contract. This rule corresponds to reliance damages, since it compensates the promisee only for reliance expenditures made as a result of the contract. In some cases the courts may simply require the defendant to return the item provided by the promisee.

Court awards of damages take place ex post, and anticipation of those awards provides ex ante incentives to fulfill promises, while leaving the flexibility to breach contracts when it is efficient to do so. The parties to a contract may also write into the contract contingencies in the event of breach. This liquidated damages approach is ex ante and is based on the principle that more complete contracts can be more efficient. Liquidated damages are limited to compensation for harm and are not intended as penalties for particular actions. In cases in which it is difficult to determine the actual damages incurred as a consequence of a breach, the courts may provide relief in the form of specific performance. This generally involves an order directing the promisor to take the action called for in the contract.

Many contracts contain mandatory arbitration clauses that require disputes to be resolved outside the courts. The purpose of these clauses is intended to avoid the legal and administrative costs associated with a court case.