Much has been written about the impact the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or AIA, is having on America’s patent system. But changing the patent system has ripple effects beyond the world of patent prosecution. And one AIA effect that might easily be overlooked is the impact of patent reform on the decision to choose patent rather than trade secret protection.
A patent is a property right granted on certain types of inventions by the federal government in exchange for a public disclosure of the invention and the manner of making and using it. The patent holder gets the right to exclude others from practicing the invention for a set time period, after which the invention is fair game for the public to use. If the patent is infringed, the remedies available include an injunction to stop the infringement and money damages.
