Intellectual property rights work by converting an idea from a public good into something:

1. The natural state of an idea is that anyone can use it once known. 2. One way to increase new technology is to guarantee the innovator an exclusive right to that new product or process. 3. Exclusivity is precisely the property a public good lacks. 4. Granting it lets the innovator charge, which restores the incentive to invent. 5. The idea stays non-rival throughout; only the legal right to use it is restricted. _Source: OpenStax Principles of Microeconomics for AP(R) Courses 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 13 'Positive Externalities and Public Goods', sections 13.1-13.4_