In today’s global business environment, a commercial enterprise must maintain its competitive edge by investing in research and development programs directed to innovative technologies. If successful, such programs will create protectable intellectual property and help to ensure that the developing enterprise enjoys at least some measure of exclusivity with respect to the IP and new technologies arising out of its R&D investment.
If an innovation is technical in nature, it may be protectable by filing a patent application. Should such an application be granted, the resulting patent provides its owner with the right to exclude others from, e.g., making, using or selling the invention claimed in the patent for a certain period of time. If the innovation is not capable of being reverse-engineered, it could instead be maintained as a trade secret. The owner of the trade secret may take action against others who misappropriate the trade secret, provided the legal requirements for trade secret protection (e.g., confidentiality) are met.
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