Trade Secrets and Patents

Hi,
I think, depending on the application, a trade secret offers more
protection than a patent. Coke and the Colonel's secret recipe spring
to mind. A patent makes public your idea making it possible to reverse
engineer.
If you can produce the perfect mouse trap cheaper than the
competition then I think the equipment developed to make this possible
can be made a trade secret. I think anyone coming in contact with the
equipment must sign a non-disclosure form and there must be an effort
made to keep the equipment or process a secret. There is some
interesting stuff on the web regarding this topic and there has been
new laws to beef up intellectual property for the software development
industry.
Terry Ackland