Trade Secret or Patent: Which Protects Your Invention?
A patent gives twenty years of exclusivity in exchange for disclosure. A trade secret can last forever but dies on reverse engineering. Here is how to choose.
A patent gives twenty years of exclusivity in exchange for disclosure. A trade secret can last forever but dies on reverse engineering. Here is how to choose.
Information qualifies as a trade secret when it has value because it is secret and you take reasonable steps to keep it that way. Here is the test and examples.
The first days after a departing employee takes confidential files decide the case. Preserve the evidence, pull the agreements, and choose the remedy quickly.
Courts ask what you actually did to keep the information secret. Here is the layered checklist, from NDAs and access controls to exit interviews and marking.
An NDA is necessary but rarely sufficient. Marking clauses, fixed terms, residuals, and a missing whistleblower notice can quietly weaken trade secret claims.