Problem
Software protection. AVP Systems, a small software company (150 employees), has developed software that calculates sales taxes in the US and VAT (value added taxes) where they exist in other countries. The tax system contains a database of taxes and six software programs to support the calculation, reporting and maintenance of the tax rates. AVP wants to protect its investment and needs to determine which is the best means of doing so.
The following are established ways of protecting intellectual property rights in software.
Copyright
Patent
Trade mark
Describe the purpose of each of these approaches and explain how each of them can be used to protect property rights in software. Based on your research recommend which approach would be the best for AVP. Justify your recommendation.