How your trade secrets attorney can save you from a patent

2. How your trade secrets attorney can save you from a patent Introduction • All companies the world over thrive on innovation. Nowadays if you are not able to do something new or novel, then you are already on the way to lose your market share. Thus continual research and development is part and parcel of every corporation. • But companies also need to protect their new ideas from being copied by others. This is easier said than done since competitors, old employees and corporate espionage agents are always on the look out to steal all your exciting ideas. Here are a few ways in which a trade secrets attorney will help you in this situation. • The patent • One of the most well-known ways to protect any new invention or idea is to get it patented. This involves describing the idea in excruciating detail to governmental agencies who will then check your idea for any irregularities.

4. If none are found then they would grant a patent for the said invention which would be valuable for a certain amount of time. Though this process does involve a lot of paperwork, your trade secrets attorney should be able to handle all of it quite easily. Also note the process takes some time due to the required due diligence. • Another point to note is that patents come with an expiry date. This simply means you cannot protect your idea forever. But one of the main questions you would need to answer is whether you really want to spell out all the details of the idea for the world to know. Could there be another way out of this convoluted exercise to protect your idea.

5. The other way • On consulting your trade secrets attorneyyou will come to know of another simpler way and that is to keep the idea as a trade secret. Here the idea is not published or made known to the common public or even to most employees of the firm. • The invention or novelty is known only to a handful of relevant employees which keeps the idea from spreading out to your competitors. It does not require any paperwork or extra cost either. • The downside • Though seemingly fool proof the concept does have its flaws in that if the innovation can be easily spotted by your competitors on examination of your product closely then there will be nothing there to stop them from replicating the same mechanism. • Thus if the new idea can be easily gauged from your products then a patent would be a good idea, else a trade secret will do just fine for you. • Chicago Breach of Contract Lawyer