Asked in Intellectual Property

Q: Why trade secrets level of protection is considerably weaker than for patents?

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2 Lawyer Answers
Kevin E. Flynn
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Kevin E. Flynn
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A: Patents provide a heavy hammer to punish unauthorized use of an idea -- but only for a limited time.

Trade secret protection is valuable too. Ask Uber -- they paid $245 million to Google for theft of trade secrets on self-driving cars. The person that stole the ideas was criminally prosecuted.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/former-google-self-driving-engineer-pleads-guilty-trade-secrets-theft-n1164491

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/09/584522541/uber-googles-waymo-settle-case-over-trade-secrets-for-self-driving-cars

If you found this answer helpful, you may want to look at my answers to other questions about patent law are available at the bottom of my profile page at

https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/kevin-e-flynn-880338

Kevin E Flynn

1 user found this answer helpful

A: It depends.

A patent discloses everything necessary to make a product or process, so in return you get protection for a period of time, and it is limited geographically.

A trade secret stays secret as long as you protect it.

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