Both scholars and companies prefer patenting to trade secrets.
Bambauer 16 , Professor of Law, James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona (Derek E., January 2016, “Secrecy is Dead - Long Live Trade Secrets,” Denver Law Review, https://digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=dlr)
The conventional wisdom for both innovators and scholars is that patenting is preferable to secrecy. While the road to patenting is costly and long, it rewards an inventor with strong property rights at the successful conclusion of the journey. The shorter duration of patent protection is seen as outweighed by the strength of those rights and by the 21 greater ease of valuing the patent. Patents help innovators exclude competitors, since neither independent discovery nor use after reverse engineering operate as defenses to liability for infringement. Scholars see the disclosure from patents as driving follow-on innovation and diffusing knowledge.26