The Patent System and Trade Secret System under the Innovation Driven Development Strategy: Logic and Choice

The patent system and the trade secret system are two main systems that encourage innovation and promote technological progress. There are significant differences in the design logic, historical development logic, and interest balance logic between the two systems. The patent system has matured after hundreds of years of theoretical revision and practical exploration, while the trade secret system has been controversial since its implementation. From a historical perspective, before the emergence of the patent system, it relied mainly on trade secret protection technology, which had a small scope and slow speed of technology inheritance and diffusion. However, the patent system propelled human technological progress into the fast lane, and the establishment and adjustment of the patent system successively led major developed countries such as the UK, Germany, the US, and Japan onto the path of becoming strong powers. It is an effective path to achieve innovation driven development. However, the role of the trade secret system in promoting national strength still lacks practical testing and proof. From the perspective of interest balance, the patent system can achieve a system balance from low to high level through legal and policy adjustments, but the current legal framework cannot prompt the trade secret system to a balanced state. Overstrengthening the protection of trade secrets may hinder the promotion of public interests and increase the risk of harm to rights holders. Therefore, promoting technological progress should take the patent system as the main path, supplemented by the trade secret system in certain special fields, so that the two systems can work together to promote technological progress and human social development.