Maria Swiatek, a Dorsey partner and IP and patent expert, is noted in a Business Week article on the patent process. Swiatek cautions that while careful preparation is appropriate before filing for a patent an inventor needs to be careful not to wait too long: "If you don't file within one year [of public disclosure], you've basically lost the opportunity to file a patent." At the same time, Swiatek also counsels that because something is patentable and marketable doesn't mean that a patent is necessarily the best route to go. Trade secrets are an alternative form of protection when your idea pertains to a method of designing or manufacturing that is not easily reverse-engineered. Technological innovation, however, can be so fast paced as to make a patent less cost effective.
"When Do You Really Need To Patent?" - Maria Swiatek Noted in Business Week Article
February 1, 2006