A more thorough explanation:

Utilitarianism is a philosophical and economic doctrine that believes the best social policy is one that benefits the greatest number of people. It is an ethical theory that judges the rightness or wrongness of actions based on the pleasure they create or the pain they inflict. The theory recommends taking actions that create the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

For example, if a government is deciding whether to build a new hospital or a new sports stadium, utilitarianism would suggest building the hospital because it would benefit more people by providing healthcare services.

Utilitarianism is a type of consequentialism, which means it focuses on the consequences of actions rather than the actions themselves. When analyzing intellectual-property rights, utilitarianism takes the perspective of society rather than the individual inventor, author, or artist. It justifies these rights as an incentive for social and technological progress.

One type of utilitarianism is hedonistic utilitarianism, which believes that the validity of a law should be measured by determining the extent to which it would promote the greatest happiness to the greatest number of citizens. This theory is found most prominently in the work of Jeremy Bentham, whose “Benthamite utilitarianism” greatly influenced legal reform in 19th-century Britain. Hedonistic utilitarianism generally maintains that pleasure is intrinsically good and pain intrinsically bad. Therefore, inflicting pain, as by punishing a criminal, is justified only if it results in a net increase of pleasure by deterring future harmful behavior.

For example, if a criminal is punished for their crime, it may cause them pain, but it may also deter them from committing future crimes, which would benefit society as a whole. Utilitarianism would justify this punishment if it resulted in a net increase of pleasure for society.