Most of the industries in the business of formulations always find it tough to select right way (either to protect it with classical IP rights, for example by filing for patent protection or to keep it as a trade secret) of protecting innovations. Filing for a patent requires them to disclose the process whereas maintaining a trade-secret may be tough to do. Further, if any of their competitors come up with the same process, files for a patent, they can stop everyone in the market from using the same process. Well, it’s a difficult choice at times to select between patent and trade-secret. Some commonly known tips which might help the innovators:
for more: http://www.origiin.com/2018/12/13/patent-or-trade-secret/