Response Andrew
Kuratco, (2014) list trademarks, copyright, and patents as forms of intellectual property protection. The protection of intellectual property is significant because it forbids the reproduction or manufacture of a unique discovery. The objective of a patent is to provide the holder with a temporary monopoly on his or her innovation by providing protection against infringement by others for a specific amount of time.
For example, design patents last for 14 years; all others last for 20 years (Kuratco, 2014). Therefore, only after the allotted number of years has elapsed can others begin to produce a generic form of the original product (Kuratco, 2014).