A Secret On Sale: When Trade Secrecy and Invention Disclosure Collide

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A Secret On Sale: When Trade Secrecy and Invention Disclosure Collide

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You have invented a process for manufacturing a high-potency artificial sweetener. You are now faced with a critical business decision: how do you protect your intellectual property? You could keep your process a closely guarded secret—benefiting from trade secret protection potentially forever—at the constant risk that a competitor may legally reverse engineer or independently discover your invention. Alternatively, you could apply for a patent and, if it is granted, enjoy a term-limited exclusive right to your invention at the significant trade-off of disclosing your invention to the public. Could you benefit from both trade secret and patent protection?

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