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Guided answer
Patent or trade secret?
One honest question decides most of this.
Secrecy may genuinely be stronger. Test it against four things.
- Independent invention: a secret gives no protection against it; a patent does. How active is your field?
- Duration: a patent runs twenty years from filing; a secret lasts as long as it holds.
- Controls: India has no dedicated trade secrets statute, so protection rests on contract and the duty of confidence. Do you have access controls, marking, employment terms and a real exit process?
- Evidence: could you prove what was confidential and when?
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This is educational guidance, not personalised legal advice. It cannot see your documents, your dates or the prior art, and those are usually what decide the answer. Use it to understand the question, then take advice on your own facts.
Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.