In short
A patent and a trade secret are two separate paths of the question whether the monopoly is by disclosing or the advantage is by concealing. The question whether it is a patent or a trade secret does not carry a single right answer for every invention. A patent looks for a monopoly for a term, in return for disclosure and examination. A secret is discussed, without a registration register, for as long as confidentiality continues. The two are not built at the same time for every element. A patent year is not in this text.
A patent accepts disclosure
A patent application asks for the invention to be set out with claims and a disclosure. The disclosure is a text that competitors will also read. If novelty was destroyed before the disclosure, the door narrows. If reverse engineering is easy, the practical benefit of keeping it secret may stay weak. This sentence does not give rise to the same result in every product. Whether the product can be taken apart is read from the sample in hand. When there is no sample, a choice is not announced. The decision is not built before the draft claims and the sample stand.
If an application has been made, the file does not stand in for the secrecy policy. The application may not have been published yet. A text that has not been published is not treated as disclosed to the public. Even so, to whom the application papers were sent is asked separately. The neighbouring records are under a patent application, a trade secret and know-how, an employee invention and copyright in software. The layer of the software as a work is not the short name of the patent choice.
A secret wants confidentiality
Know-how and a formula are protected through access control and through a contract. The contract writes who will see the formula. The access record shows whether that person actually looked. When the two are missing, it is not said that secrecy was chosen. There is a risk of a leak or of an independent invention. An independent invention is not melted in the same petition with a leak. A development log is the document of independence. When there is no log, independence is not assumed.
An invoice may show the price paid to a consultant. An invoice does not prove that the formula stayed secret. Confidentiality is read from the record of the consultant's contract and from the annex that was sent. If the annex carries the whole of the formula, that annex may already have gone out to a narrow circle. The circle should be written in the contract. A circle that is not written is not counted as a circle of secrecy by itself.
A choice piece by piece
The visible part of the product may be a patent, and the critical process may be a secret. This separation writes from the start which element will be disclosed. A separation that is not written is not treated as built by itself later. A record of an employee invention affects both paths. If the employee's date of notice stands before the filing date, the order is read separately. An early publication or a fair may harm the novelty of the patent and the character of the secret together. A photograph of the fair carries what was shown. When there is no photograph, it is not said that the fair disclosed everything.
The document should also show on which date the choice was made. When there is no date, a later presentation is not treated as having erased the earlier confidentiality, or as having protected the confidentiality. The petition does not join the patent claims and the inventory of secrets in the same paragraph. The two lists answer two questions. The register shows the outcome of the patent application. The register is not put in the place of the inventory of secrets.
The minute of the choice writes which element will be disclosed and which will stay in the safe. When there is no minute, a sentence that we chose a patent at the meeting is not enough by itself. The meeting note should carry who was present and which sample was shown. If a sample was shown, the part that was shown is not counted as the whole of the secret process. If the process stands in a separate annex, that annex is written into the inventory of secrets. A step that is not written into the inventory is not announced as a secret later. A patent claim is not treated as having covered the step in the inventory by itself.
The employee's notice of the invention changes the order according to whether it is before or after the choice. The order is read from the date on the notice document. When there is no date, it is not said whether the employee or the company acted first. If the company showed in writing that it received the notice, that writing stands in the file. The writing does not stand in for the patent application. When there is no application number, the notice is not treated as entered on the register. The register record does not erase the secrecy policy either.
A Çankaya address does not write a year
Counsel in Ankara who asks the year of the choice does not produce a term from the office being in Çankaya. An office in Çankaya does not stand in for the examining authority and does not change the competent authority. The name of the district is not written in the place of the filing authority.
How the year is read from the document
A patent year is not written from this text. Disclosure and confidentiality are not treated as one for every element.
Conclusion
A patent looks for a monopoly by disclosing. A trade secret looks for an advantage by concealing. The choice depends on the element and on the risk profile. A result is not said before the invention is recounted. The frame stands on the intellectual property page, and the basis is Industrial Property Law No. 6769 and Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works.