If you have an innovation, you face a choice: patent it or keep it as a trade secret.
Patent advantages include exclusive rights even if someone else discovers it independently, public notice of ownership, the ability to license, and 20 years of guaranteed protection.
Patent disadvantages include being expensive, requiring full public disclosure, and having limited duration.
Trade secret advantages are no filing costs, no expiration, and no disclosure requirement.
Trade secret disadvantages include that if someone else independently discovers it or reverse-engineers it, you have no protection. If secrecy is lost, protection is lost.
The strategic question is: Can your innovation be reverse-engineered?
If yes, get a patent if you can. Once you sell your product, competitors can buy it and figure out how it works.
If no, and if it’s something internal competitors can’t access, protecting it as a trade secret might make more sense.
The Coca-Cola formula is a trade secret because you can’t reverse-engineer it from drinking Coke. A new smartphone hinge should be patented because competitors can take it apart.
Intellectual property is one of your most powerful business tools. If you’re ready to build a strong brand and protect what you create, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I’m an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, but I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
Ready to protect your work? Book a consultation online at kingpatentlaw.com or call 217-714-8558.
For more information on intellectual property and business law, check out the other posts on this site, listen to my podcast “Spellbinding IP: Patent, Trademark, and Business Strategy” on all major podcast platforms (video available on YouTube, Spotify, and Substack), or follow me on social media at @kingpatentlaw.
Avoid the legal horrors, and keep rocking your IP.
