By Paul Craane

In transforming biomass to power, biofuels or other chemicals, equipment is used to carry out a process to provide a product. Innovation as to the equipment, the process or the product may cause a company to seek patent protection.

Depending on the nature of the product and the company's business plan, patent protection may not be the only choice, or the best choice. In certain settings, a company may be able to choose the most advantageous form of protection, and trade secret protection may be the better choice when compared with seeking patent protection.

However, in certain other settings, even though trade secret protection may be possible as to the equipment or the process, the decision to pursue patent protection on the product may determine if trade secret protection is really an option.

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