MGEC71H3 Study Guide - Final Guide: Externality, Economic Surplus, Allocative Efficiency
4 Oct 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Missing question: intellectual property can be protection using patents, copyright, and trademarks. Patents safeguard an original invention for a certain period of time. It provides limited monopoly to the inventor, to encourage innovation. The underlying assumption is that innovation is encouraged because the inventor can secure exclusive rights, and therefore a higher profitability of financial rewards in the market. Copyrights protect works of authorship such as writings, art, architecture and music. Trademarks protects words and design elements that identify the source of a product (i. e. , brand names and logos). Somehow trademarks communicate to you how good/bad a product is. We obviously want high quality products, which provides incentive for inventors to have trademarks so that consumers recognize their brand and product. Patents: the economic justification for patents is straightforward. If there were no patents, then someone who invested time and money to create an invention would not necessarily get a return on even a very valuable invention.
