Is know-how protection effective?
How do you protect an innovation that won't be patented?

Know-how is a body of unpatented practical information resulting from experience and testing that is :

• secret (not generally known or easily accessible) ;

• substantial (important and useful for product production);

• identified (described in sufficient detail to enable verification that it meets the conditions of secrecy and substantiality).

Know-how can be complementary to a patent: it is possible to protect the essential elements of the invention by filing a patent application, and to keep secret practical or non-patentable know-how (algorithms, test results, calculation notes, reports, dimensioned drawings, etc.).