Intellectual property rights refer to those property rights that are associated with the inventor of a new invention or intangible property is granted the right to commercially or financially benefit from that property. The scope of intellectual property rights varies across economies, but generally any innovation or creative work that falls under the jurisdiction of copyright law and patent law is protected through IPR rules. E-commerce is one of the business models that relies the most on IPR or uses IPR as well as licensing. Through e-commerce, one can exchange things like software, designs, training materials, systems, etc., with IP rules serving as the major source of value. Because valuable goods under e-commerce must be protected by all kinds of security-based IP laws, otherwise the entire firm is at risk of facing theft. The present paper studies the history of IPR - the origin of its three major forms and its relevance to e-commerce, the role of IPR in e-commerce and the segments of e-commerce protected by IPR. This paper discusses how IPR protection plays a vital role in the efficient functioning and growth of e-commerce.