The answer to question needs an IP lawyer... (Score 1)

I am not the IP lawyer, I have jut dealt with many of them. Whether you patent or keep it a trade secret depends on the idea and the competitive landscape. Who is most likely to violate your patent? If this is a consumer good and the markets are all over the world, will the normal offenders of IP be all over this idea? Some countries have no respect for your patents. Then, you are merely enabling competition. Do your potential customers value patents? If you are going to be selling to governments or psuedo government in developed countries, you probably want to patent it. If you are selling to consumers then it is questionable whether you should educate your copiers. If it is a broad patent and it is enabling then you probably want to patent it. Through a patent application, you are teaching everyone essentially how to copy you. If they don't respect your patent then you have just enabled a nasty competitor. If the patent has narrow claims then you may think about whether you should or should not patent. If you already have a broad patent coverage then you discover other inventions related to the previous patents then you may want to keep it a secret to not everyone know what the solutions are to various problems they will encounter trying to copy your idea. Try sending people down the wrong alleys trying to chase you.. If you have an improvement to prior art, previous disclosures or patents, and the idea is being commercialize or is commercial, patent it. You can more easily liscence the new idea. Lastly, if you going to raise money from investors to commercialize the product, then you will be better off with a patent. If you going to sell your company to a larger comany, what are they going to be buying? You can sell cash flow and customers, but if you intend to sell during commercialization phase, you need an IP portfolio.