When can we rely on Trade Secret Protection for our technology?

Trade secrets are generally protectable under state law statutory schemes (e.g., the Illinois Trade Secrets Act). In order to be protectable under a trade secrets act, the matter in question generally must qualify as a type of information protectable under the act (e.g., not merely publicly available information), be subject to measures taken to protect the information's confidentiality, and generally be valuable because of the confidential nature of the information. In other words, the trade secret is valuable because it is not generally known in the marketplace.

The patent process can be costly and it is the antithesis of protecting information as a trade secret; the federal government requires that you disclose the information in laborious fashion (in exchange for the ability to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing the invention). Information or technology that you will be disclosing to customers and clients publicly - code, data, etc. - will generally not be subject to trade secret protection. Information and technology that you will only be using for internal purposes, or in some discreet proprietary fashion, may be protectable as a trade secret provided you satisfy take appropriate measures to keep the information and technology secret. Precisely what those measures are will depend on your jurisdiction's requirements.

In short, trade secret protection is generally not an alternative to patent protection for the same information/technology. It is advisable to contact a patent and/or IP attorney to discuss the details of your IT startup and technology you are trying to protect.