Two people can hold the same (independently discovered) trade secret. If I slave away and re-discover the Coke recipe, I can keep it and use it as a trade secre

Two people can hold the same (independently discovered) trade secret. If I slave away and re-discover the Coke recipe, I can keep it and use it as a trade secret. But if I intern at Coke and steal it, I can go to jail for trade secret theft. A patent incents me to slave away and then requires me to teach the patent in exchange for a limited monopoly. Trade secret law only punishes me for stealing but incents me to keep secrets. The trouble with trade secrets is that I have to be able to exploit my invention and still keep it a secret. I probably can't do that with the phone. So I wouldn't slave away working on that problem if the best protection I could get is a trade secret.