AI: Is Patenting Really The Right Move? - Factor III

This article forms one part of a broader decision framework for evaluating whether patent or trade secret protection is appropriate for AI innovation.

The framework is designed to help decision-makers (e.g., innovators, in house, CTOs) align patent and IP strategy with underlying business realities and moving beyond purely "legal" considerations.

Reproducibility considers whether a competitor could realistically replicate the AI innovation by reviewing your public materials or otherwise by obtaining limited access to the system itself.

If the core functionality can be inferred or reverse-engineered from these sources, trade secrets are of little value since the innovation is readily discoverable. In these cases, patent protection may be more useful to prevent straightforward copying.