intellectual property, abbreviated IP, is someone's idea, invention, creation, etc., that can be protected by law from being copied by someone else; dictionaries also define it as property that results from original creative thought.
Cambridge Dictionary marks the noun uncountable, labels it law and specialized, gives the abbreviation IP, and defines it as "someone's idea, invention, creation, etc., that can be protected by law from being copied by someone else," with the example "And now, there are laws to protect their intellectual property."
The Cambridge Business English Dictionary, also marking the noun uncountable under a LAW label and giving the abbreviation IP, defines it as "someone's idea, invention, etc. that can be protected by law from being copied by someone else," with the example "Theft of intellectual property is widespread, with factories illegally producing millions of cheap copies of the latest design of phone." It compares the term with literary property.
Dictionary.com, under a Law label, defines it as "property that results from original creative thought, as patents, copyright material, and trademarks," and as "an individual product of original creative thought." It describes the term as "An Americanism dating back to 1840–45." Dictionary.com, citing Collins English Dictionary, gives "an intangible asset, such as a copyright or patent."