Old world companies usually/commonly avoided patents, as they just spelt things out for the competition (ie, showed the competition how to copy them). Most thin

Old world companies usually/commonly avoided patents, as they just spelt things out for the competition (ie, showed the competition how to copy them). Most things worth knowing were held as trade secrets. Having a patent could easily be a good marketing strategy, but I'm not sure if it's as relevant today (I'm saying I don't know not that it isn't relevant).