Deck 9: Trade Secrets, Trademarks, and Copyrights

Question 1

It is virtually impossible to keep something secret by trying to keep it secret.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Secrecy works best when the information that is being kept secret involves tacit knowledge.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The less observable-in-use a product is the less it can be kept secret.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In the United States, trade secrets are governed primary through the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

Question 5

In order to have a trade secret, the information must have some economic value.

Question 6

Frequently trade secrets offer a longer time horizon of protection than a patent.

Question 7

Patents are better than trade secrets when the product cycle is short.

Question 8

Nondisclosure agreements bar employees from working for competitors for a period of time after their employment has ended.

Question 9

Unless a company has the employee sign over their rights to intellectual property created during their employment, the rights to the technology reside with the employee.

Question 10

A copyright is a legal protection given to the authors of original literary, musical works, or name.

Question 11

Copyrights give the right to sue to collect damages if someone else infringes the copyright from the time the work was created until 70 years after the author's death.

Question 12

If the court determines that the infringement on your copyright was intentional, you can collect triple the value of your loss as damages.

Question 13

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires that all digital recording devices include a Serial Copy Management System.

Question 14

A trade or service mark can be obtained on any word, number, symbol, phrase, color, design, or even smell that distinguishes the products and services of one company form those of another.

Question 15

In order to obtain a trademark you are required to file an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Question 16

Cancellation of a trademark occurs when someone else can show that the owner of the mark has stopped using it.

Question 17

Domain names must be registered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Question 18

In 2006, there over 5 billion domain names in use.

Question 19

There is no such thing as an international copyright, trademark, or patent.

Question 20

The U.S. is the country with the most patent applications in 2006.

Question 21

The Madrid Protocol gives any individual who is a resident or citizen of one of the 70 signatories to the agreement the ability to file for international registration in as many of the signatory countries as they want through their home country's patent and trademark office.

Question 22

The Patent Cooperation Treaty makes uniform at 20 years the length of patents in all signatory countries.

Question 23

Under which of the following situations would efforts to mitigate imitation by keeping information about a new product or service secret work best?

A) if several people know the information necessary to imitate your product or service
B) it the new product or service is complex
C) when the information that is being kept secret does not involve tacit knowledge
D) all of the above are correct

Question 24

If you have knowledge about how to do something that is not documented in written form, you possess:

A) codified knowledge
B) elicit knowledge
C) observable-in-use knowledge
D) tacit knowledge

Question 25

For what area does secrecy work least well?

A) products
B) material
C) processes
D) inputs

Question 26

What can be defined as information including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process that derives independent economic value, actual or potential from not being generally known, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by other persons?

A) secrets
B) trade secrets
C) patents
D) trademark

Question 27

Which of the following can be a trade secret?

A) manufacturing process
B) chemical process
C) food recipe
D) all of the above can be a trade secret

Question 28

What condition needs to be met for the courts to hold that something is a trade secret?

A) the information must be known to people outside of your company
B) the information by itself does not have any economic values
C) you take reasonable measures to keep the information secret
D) the information must not generate a competitive advantage

Question 29

Kentucky Fried Chicken's recipe for fried chicken has not been copied because the recipe is:

A) patented
B) copyrighted
C) trademarked
D) a trade secret

Question 30

What is required to meet the requirement for a trade secret that reasonable measures be taken to keep the information secret?

A) limit access to the information to people who need it
B) have the personnel with access to the information agree, in writing, to keep it secret
C) limit access to nonemployees to your facilities
D) all of the above

Question 31

What is a reason why you may choose secrecy as a strategy?

A) trade secrets offer a shorter time horizon of protection
B) don't want to risk the independent discovery and exploitation of your invention
C) you have a product for which secrecy is particularly effective
D) don't want to adopt secrecy policies

Question 32

Under which situation are trade secrets better than patents?

A) when the patent would be narrow
B) when reverse engineering is possible
C) when the market life of a product is close to 20 years
D) when it is easy to identify a trade secret

Question 33

Under which situation are patents better than trade secrets?

A) the secret cannot be patented
B) the product cycle is short
C) the patent would be narrow
D) reverse engineering is possible

Question 34

What is a legal document in which a person agrees not to make private information public?

A) nondisclosure agreement
B) trademark
C) noncomplete agreement
D) copyright

Question 35

What is required for a nondisclosure agreement to be defendable?

A) must be of a limited length
B) must have a limited geographic breadth
C) must bar the employee from working for other companies
D) must provide some form of compensation

Question 36

Wal-Mart sued Drugstore.com and the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins when Drugstore.com hired former Wal-Mart employees who had developed Wal-Mart's system for Internet retailing because they felt which of the following was violated?

A) patent
B) nondisclosure agreement
C) noncompete agreement
D) copyright

Question 37

What is a legal document that bars a person from working for a competitor for a period of time after his or her employment has ended?

A) nondisclosure agreement
B) copyright
C) noncompete agreement
D) trademark

Question 38

What is required for a noncompete agreement to be enforceable?

A) the agreement must specify legitimate uses for the information
B) the agreement must state what must be done with any documents or materials that are transferred to the employee during and after employment
C) the agreement must provide some form of consideration
D) all of the above are required

Question 39

The lesson to be learned from the example provided in the text about the large medical company in Minnesota is:

A) copyrights can be effective at protecting a company's innovations
B) it is easy to circumvent patents
C) noncompete and nondisclosure agreements can impede innovation
D) trade secrets are more effective for a longer time than patents

Question 40

What is a legal protection given to the authors of original literary, musical, or artistic work called?

A) nondisclosure agreement
B) copyright
C) noncompete agreement
D) trademark

Question 41

Which of the following cannot be copyrighted?

A) plays
B) databases
C) names
D) pantomimes

Question 42

What is required in order to receive a copyright?

A) must be legal
B) must be novel
C) must be tangible
D) all of the above are required

Question 43

Which of the following can be copyrighted?

A) discovery
B) slogan
C) calendar
D) sculpture

Question 44

How is a copyright obtained?

A) putting intellectual property into tangible form
B) apply from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
C) recording something on a CD
D) all of the above are ways to obtain a copyright

Question 45

How long is the statute of limitation on infringements of copyrights?

A) 3 years
B) 5 years
C) 7 years
D) there is no statute of limitations

Question 46

What were copyrights originally intended to protect?

A) sound recordings
B) written documents
C) computer software
D) images

Question 47

Why are more computer software companies using very restrictive end user license agreements?

A) to protect patents
B) protect noncompete agreements
C) to deter illegal copying and distribution
D) maintain trade secrets

Question 48

Which act requires that all digital recording devices include a Serial Copy Management System?

A) Audio Home Recording Act
B) Digital Millennium Copyright Act
C) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Act
D) Patent Cooperation Act

Question 49

Which act made it illegal to circumvent a technological device that is used to prevent duplication of copyrighted material?

A) Audio Home Recording Act
B) Digital Millennium Copyright Act
C) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Act
D) Patent Cooperation Act

Question 50

What part of a computer software program can copyrights be used to protect?

A) mathematical formula
B) mathematical equations
C) ideas behind mathematical equations
D) source code

Question 51

How long does copyright protection last?

A) 7 years
B) 20 years
C) 70 years after the author's death
D) indefinitely

Question 52

Which of the following is a device to identify the provider of a product or service?

A) copyright
B) domain name
C) trademark
D) patent

Question 53

Which of the following offers the least intellectual property protection?

A) patent
B) copyright
C) trade secret
D) trademark

Question 54

Which of the following can not be trademarked?

A) Porsche AG use of 911
B) Nike's swoosh symbol
C) a realtor's use of house in their name
D) Entrepreneur Magazine's use of entrepreneur in its name

Question 55

What is required to obtain a trademark?

A) send an application to the USPTO
B) payment of a fee
C) complete a drawing of the mark
D) all of the above are required

Question 56

If not renewed, how long does the ownership of a trade or service mark last?

A) 3 years
B) 5 years
C) 10 years
D) 20 years

Question 57

How long after a trademark is issued does an affidavit need to be filed attesting that the mark is still in use?

A) 5 years
B) 10 years
C) 20 years
D) an affidavit does not need to be filed

Question 58

How can trade or service marks be invalidated?

A) through cancellation proceedings
B) through abandonment
C) through generic meaning
D) all of the above

Question 59

Why does Bayer work hard to ensure that Aspirin is not used to refer to all pain medications?

A) to maintain their patent
B) to maintain their copyright
C) to maintain their trademark
D) to maintain their servicemark

Question 60

What are names used on Web sites to identify an organization providing a good or service?

A) trade secrets
B) domain names
C) copyrights
D) trademarks

Question 61

About how many domain names were in use in 1994?

A) none
B) 30,000
C) 10,000,000
D) 50,000,000

Question 62

About home many domain names were there in 2006?

A) 500,000
B) 5,000,000
C) 50,000,000
D) 5,000,000,000

Question 63

Which of the following policies regarding intellectual property are the same across different countries?

A) first to invent
B) disclosure
C) requirement to manufacture
D) all of the above are different in different cultures

Question 64

Research has revealed what type of relationship between the strength of intellectual property protection in countries and their level of per capita income?

A) positive correlation
B) negative correlation
C) no relationship
D) inverse relationship

Question 65

Which agreement set a minimum level of copyright protection that has to be provided in signatory countries?

A) Berne Convention
B) Madrid Protocol
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 66

Which agreement requires the same level of protection to be provided both to citizens and noncitizens?

A) Berne Convention
B) Madrid Protocol
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 67

Which agreement provides any individual who is a resident or citizen of one of the 70 signatories to the agreement the ability to file for international al registration in as many of the signatory countries as they want through their home country's patent and trademark office?

A) Berne Convention
B) Madrid Protocol
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 68

Which agreement allows an inventor to apply for patents in all participating European countries through a single application?

A) Paris Convention
B) Madrid Protocol
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 69

Which agreement prohibits the provision of differential patent rights to citizens of a country, establishes priority in patent applications, and allows you to disclose your invention to file for another country's patents?

A) Paris Convention
B) Madrid Protocol
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 70

Which agreement allows inventors in the 100 signatory countries to apply for patent protection in one country and preserve the right to apply for patent protection in all other signatory countries for 30 months?

A) Paris Convention
B) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 71

Which agreement makes uniform the length of patents in all signatory countries?

A) Paris Convention
B) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 72

Which agreement requires all signatory countries to provide patents on chemical and pharmaceutical products?

A) Paris Convention
B) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 73

Which agreement requires all signatory countries to restrict mandatory licensing?

A) Paris Convention
B) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement
C) European Patent Convention
D) Patent Cooperation Treaty

Question 74

Explain how secrecy can be used as a strategy. When can it be most effective?

Question 75

What are nondisclosure and noncompete agreements? Why are they important in enforcing trade secrets?

Question 76

Define a copyright and explain what can and cannot be copyrighted.

Question 77

Describe the recent developments that have been taken to strengthen copyrights.

Question 78

Define a trademark and explain how they can be used to benefit a company.

Question 79

Explain the international differences in how intellectual property is protected. Also discuss the major international agreements on copyrights, trademarks, and patents that have facilitated the international protection of intellectual property.