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Both terms were used in Europe during the 19th century as a means of distinguishing between two different views of intellectual protection. "Intellectual property" was generally used to advocate a belief that copyrights and patents should provide rights akin to physical property rights. The term "intellectual rights" was used by those who felt that such protection should take the form of temporary, limited grants.

Although most modern copyright systems do not treat copyrighted or patented materials in the same way as real property, the term "intellectual property" has gained prominence. For more on this subject, see " intellectual property".

Also, at least three different kinds of capital and rights are involved:

• creativity ( individual capital) which implies rights to benefit from one's free expression
• invention ( instructional capital) which implies rights to benefit from having created some more efficient device or process
• reputation ( social capital) which implies rights not to have one's name or specific distinguishing tagline or ethic sullied by imitators or rivals

All three capital terms predate the term intellectual capital, which appears to be a 19th century artifact of early, now-discredited, economic theory.

In 20th century Europe also originated another more modern approach, intended to sweep away the differences between the historical " Intellectual Property" and "Intellectual Rights" camps, allowing every creator both perpetual and temporary rights:

• Moral rights became the unalienable part of the rights every author was entitled to. These rights could generally not be waivered;
• All other intellectual property rights were to become both limited in time and tradeable.

Note that this is one of the chief differences between US and EU approach towards IPR up till the early 21st century20th century 21st century 22nd century other centuries) Definition In calendars based on the Christian Era or Common Era, such as the Gregorian calendar, the 21st century is the current century, as of this writing, lasting from 2001- 2100. The 21st centur, in that the cristallisation of this modern approach (the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic WorksThe Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works sometimes called the Berne Union or Berne Convention adopted at Berne in 1886, first established the recognition of copyrights between sovereign nations. It was developed at the instig) is still only partially put in practice in the US, and, where applied, this is done largely outside the legislation regarding IP.