Answer: a. The patent is an intangible so it is amortized for cost recovery
Step-by-step explanation:
Just as Depreciation exists for the wearing and tearing of tangible Assets, so does AMORTIZATION exist for Intangible Assets like goodwill, patents, licenses, copyrights and logos.
It follows essentially the same process as Depreciation and the useful life estimation is usually discretionary because some Intangible Assets can give benefits forever such as logos.
Generally though, only Intangible Assets with estimable useful lives are amortized such as Patents and Trademarks.