In the course of developing new products and services,
innovative businesses often develop commercially significant
inventions. The natural question is then how to protect those
inventions for their own use. This can be achieved through the
grant of a patent, or by keeping the invention a "trade
secret", with each option having its own specific requirements
and advantages.
Keeping the invention as a trade secret requires that the
details of the invention are maintained as confidential, and in
some circumstances keeping a trade secret may be an appropriate
decision for the business. For example, it has been a strategically
sound decision for Coca-Cola to keep its secret formula as a trade
secret, which is locked away in a special vault in its
headquarters. Other well-known trade secrets include Google's
search algorithms, and KFC's recipe. Interestingly, Coca-Cola
and KFC's decision to protect their secret formula as a trade
secret has also strengthened their
