ISC2 CISSP Practice Question

The correct answer is Patent. Patents are specifically designed to protect novel inventions, processes, methods, and technical solutions for a limited period (typically 20 years). Patents give the holder exclusive rights to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing the protected innovation without permission. When properly filed and granted, patents provide the strongest legal standing in cases of unauthorized use of technical innovations, as they don't require proving how the competitor acquired the technology.

While Copyright protects the expression of ideas (like specific code implementations or documentation), it doesn't protect the underlying technical concepts or functionality. Trademarks protect brands, names, and logos that identify products or services, not technical solutions. Trade Secret protection requires maintaining confidentiality and is difficult to enforce once the information is independently discovered or reverse-engineered by others, as the company would need to prove the competitor improperly acquired the protected information rather than developing it independently.