What's the difference between trade secrets and patents? Where can you see it?

What's the difference between trade secrets and patents? Where can you see it? What's the difference between trade secrets and patents? Although patents are exclusive, they will be made public after a certain period of time, while trade secrets are not needed, but there are still some differences between them. We can make a brief introduction to the difference between trade secrets and patents through this article. First of all, the concept of technical secret is a kind of trade secret. Trade secrets refer to technical and commercial information that is unknown to the public, can bring economic benefits to the obligee, is practical, and is kept confidential by the obligee. Among them, technical information refers to technical secrets, process flow, design drawings, technical data, chemical formula, manufacturing methods, technical data, technical information and other technical and scientific proprietary knowledge, that is, the object of technical secret protection. According to the definition in Article 2 of the Patent Law, the invention-creation referred to in the Patent Law refers to inventions, utility models and designs, and it is further explained according to Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law: the invention referred to in the Patent Law refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement; Utility model refers to a new technical scheme suitable for practical use for the shape, structure or combination of products. Inventions and utility models shall be novel, creative and practical, and shall also comply with other provisions of the Patent Law and its implementing rules. There is a certain overlapping relationship between technical secrets and patents, that is, the right holder can apply for a patent for the same new technology and be protected by patent law, or choose to be protected by relevant laws and regulations as technical secrets. However, as the technical secrets must be kept confidential and made public after patent application, the obligee can only choose one protection method, but can't enjoy both protection at the same time.