Question

Mary is the cofounder of Acme Widgets, a manufacturing firm. Together with her partner, Joe, she has developed a special oil that will dramatically improve the widget manufacturing process. To keep the formula secret, Mary and Joe plan to make large quantities of the oil by themselves in the plant after the other workers have left. They want to protect this formula for as long as possible. What type of intellectual property protection best suits their needs?

A. Copyright
B. Trademark
C. Patent
D. Trade secret

Answer 1

It is Patent (C)

Step-by-step explanation:

If someone has been able to develop a special product or process that generally provides a new way of doing something, there is a need to protect such from others who may want to steal the ideas.

Patent is the exclusive right granted to an inventor by the government . It is granted by government after the owner has filed an application and all the relevant technical information has been disclosed to the public in a patent application.

Patent convey to the owner exclusive rights to claimed the invention, process, product e.t.c for a given period of time.

Answer 2

Answer: Trade secret.

Step-by-step explanation:

Mary and Joe have to make their special oil a trade secret in order for other competing companies not to gain access to it. A trade secret is a product formed from internal intellectual innovation of members of a company, known only by few of it's staff, that gives a company comparative advantage over it's competitors.