By: Gene Quinn
IP Watchdog

Trade secrets can provide protection, but only so long as the invention is secret and once you start distributing your invention the secret is lost. If you sell your invention or otherwise distribute your invention you have lost all trade secret rights that are associated with your invention because others will be able to see your invention, take it apart, learn about it and copy it if they want. So for anyone to suggest that trade secrets meaningfully protect inventions is misleading. Trade secrets protect information, not inventions, so do not expect that you will be able to maintain any exclusive rights to your invention once you put it into the stream of commerce if all you have is a trade secret. To be sure, trade secrets may be helpful to hide what I will call exotic information, such as knowledge that a certain brand of component works best, but trade secrets are not going to prevent anyone from copying and distributing your invention once your invention is on the market.