The difference between patent application and trade secret protection

There are basically two types of trade secrets. First, trade secrets may involve inventions or manufacturing methods that do not meet the requirements of patentability, so they can only be protected as trade secrets. This may be a customer list, or it may be a manufacturing method whose invention is not high enough to apply for a patent (although they may be protected as utility models). On the other hand, trade secrets may involve inventions that meet the requirements of patentability and can be protected by patents. In the latter case, SMEs will face a choice: apply for invention patents or keep them as trade secrets.

Some benefits of trade secrets include-

The protection of trade secrets has the advantage of not being limited by time (patents can generally last for 20 years). Therefore, as long as trade secrets are not disclosed to the public, their protection can continue indefinitely.

There is no need to pay a registration fee for trade secrets (although the cost of confidential information may be high).

Trade secrets can take effect immediately.

Protecting trade secrets does not require compliance with laws and regulations such as disclosure of information to government departments.

However, protecting confidential business information as a business secret also has some disadvantages, especially when the information meets the patent requirements:

If the secret is contained in an innovative product, others may find it, dissect it (that is, reverse engineering), find the secret, and thus have the right to use it. In fact, protecting trade secrets does not have the exclusive right to exclude third parties from commercial use of trade secrets.

Once a trade secret is made public, anyone can get it and use it at will.

The implementation of trade secrets is much more difficult than patents. The degree of protection of trade secrets varies greatly from country to country, but it is generally considered weak, especially compared with the protection given by patents.

Trade secrets may be patented by others who develop relevant information through legal means.