2. Consider a firm that is considering marketing its innovation in multiple countries. What factors should this firm consider in formulating its protection strategy ?

First the firm must have a clear understanding of whether or not the appropriate protection is offered in each country in which one will operate. Because each countries have its own registration process and protection. A patent or trademark granted in one country does not provide protection in other countries. But some treaties try to simplify and to standardize the process. For example with trademark, The Madrid Agreement which concerns the international registration of marks and the Madrid Protocole are the Madrid Union. It enables registration with the trademark office of a country member and the obtention of an international registration that provides protection in many other Madrid Union countries as the appliquant chooses ( 85 members in 2012).
For Copyright the Berne union gives a minimum level of copyright protection for all members coutries. A Citizen of any member country may patent an invention in any of the member countries and enjoy the same benefits of patent protection as if the inventor were a Citizen of those countries.

With respect to patents, the Patent Cooperation Treaty facilitates the application for patent in multiple countries, enabling the firm to pay only the single PCT application fee.
But other factors have to be considered : Publication of information about the technology.
The firm must apply for a patent before publish information about the technology. The publication before applying will bar the right to a patent except America where there is a « one year grace » and you can publish information one year before apply for a patent. But if an american firm wants a patent protection in multiple countries, it must enforce the standard of applying for patent