Principles of Microeconomics / Unit 12 MIC 1106 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Intellectual Property
Captions available
The idea
A patent gives an inventor the exclusive right to an invention for a period; copyright, for a work. The temporary monopoly profit is the reward competition would have removed.
In practice
Twenty years: long enough to reward, short enough to end.
Where people slip
Patents are imperfect: inventors still capture a fraction, fast fields outrun them, some ideas cannot be patented, terms are arbitrary.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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