Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read Chapter 13 of your text book. Optionally, review the websites listed in recommended resources for additional information on this topic. IPR is one of the methods that firms appropriate the business value from innovation. On the other hand, openly distributed technology encourages adoption by consumers and the development of complementary goods. There are business values to both strategies.

For this discussion,

• Compare patents, copyrights, and license protection methods.
• Examine the basis for each type of protection. What factors should be considered when choosing a protection mechanism? Provide examples for each.
• Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of both protection and open distribution. What types of companies would benefit from each method? Give examples for each case.