A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is concerned about protecting the company's intellectual property from competitors. Which of the following will address the CEO's concerns?

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a non-binding agreement between two or more parties outlining their intentions, not a legal protection for intellectual property.

A service-level agreement (SLA) defines the level of service expected from a vendor, focusing on service performance, not intellectual property protection.

Trade secrets are confidential information that provides a business with a competitive edge, but they require active measures to maintain secrecy and don't grant exclusive rights in the same way a registered copyright does against independent creation or reverse engineering.

Copyright protects original works of authorship, such as literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, including software code, preventing others from copying or distributing it without permission. This legal protection directly addresses the CEO's concern about competitors using the company's intellectual property.