Protecting Innovation in the Chemical and Metallurgical Process Industries

There are various means by which business organizations can protect innovation by preventing unfair use by competitors of the organization's innovations, while preserving the innovator's right to use. These include patents, trade secrets, and naturally occurring competitive advantages. Intelligent use of these tools requires consideration of the implications on the business organization's ability to freely commercialize the innovation in the marketplace. Deciding between these tools is not so straightforward, especially where technology innovation is susceptible to alternative forms of protection, such as in the chemical and metallurgical process industries. For example, many innovations in the chemical and metallurgical process industries relate to processes whose commercial exploitation does not require their public disclosure, and which are difficult to reverse engineer from the ultimate commercial product deriving from such process. Potentially, such technologies