In an earlier blog I referred to the 2003 Survey of the Intellectual Property Owners on Strategic Management of Intellectual Property and related that the results showed, according to 88% of the responses, that the really important intellectual assets are skills and knowledge which implicates trade secrets.
Among other specific findings in this IPO Survey anent trade secrets are the following:
All but 6% of responding companies do compete on the basis of proprietary technology.
Loss of trade secret protection would damage 80% of respondents’ ability to sustain their competitive advantage.
All but 3% of respondents build competitive advantage on internally developed know-how.
Only 1/3 of respondents would maintain R&D spending after losing trade secret protection.
Over 2/3 of respondents report that NCAs and NDAs are effective in their industry.
43% of respondents agree that many of their most important ideas cannot be effectively protected with patents due to serious limits to patent protection.
67% of respondents believe that most patents are not thought to be insuperable obstacles and can be invented around.
Two-thirds of respondents agreed that trade secret law is an effective way for them to retain control of important technology.
In light of these results, let no-one treat trade secrets as the “black sheep,” “orphan,” “stepchild,” or “ugly sister” of the intellectual property system, as the members of the “Patent über alles/trade secrets are the cesspool of the patent system” school of thought are wont to do.
Among other specific findings in this IPO Survey anent trade secrets are the following:
All but 6% of responding companies do compete on the basis of proprietary technology.
Loss of trade secret protection would damage 80% of respondents’ ability to sustain their competitive advantage.
All but 3% of respondents build competitive advantage on internally developed know-how.
Only 1/3 of respondents would maintain R&D spending after losing trade secret protection.
Over 2/3 of respondents report that NCAs and NDAs are effective in their industry.
43% of respondents agree that many of their most important ideas cannot be effectively protected with patents due to serious limits to patent protection.
67% of respondents believe that most patents are not thought to be insuperable obstacles and can be invented around.
Two-thirds of respondents agreed that trade secret law is an effective way for them to retain control of important technology.
In light of these results, let no-one treat trade secrets as the “black sheep,” “orphan,” “stepchild,” or “ugly sister” of the intellectual property system, as the members of the “Patent über alles/trade secrets are the cesspool of the patent system” school of thought are wont to do.
