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Yes... (not a lawyer so grain of salt here) There are three basic tools for IP protection: 1) Copyright - protects outright copying of an IP asset 2) Patent -

Yes... (not a lawyer so grain of salt here) There are three basic tools for IP protection: 1) Copyright - protects outright copying of an IP asset 2) Patent - protects against the reimplementation of the same IP 3) Trade Secret - Similar to patent, but enforcement is trickier especially for software as you have to demonstrate a benefit to it being secret as well as your efforts to keep it secret. Non-competes are more of a blunt instrument and a controversial topic. Amazon is infamous for having them. Typically only hear of companies trying to enforce these at executive level as any enforcement at a lower level can impact recruiting heavily.

OliverJones 5y ago
In the bike-parts and other speciality manufacturing businesses, there's a fourth barrier to entry for new competitors: reputation for quality. Quality matters a whole lot for the kind of products PNW makes. Not every cyclist has the ability to figure out whether a part was manufactured correctly (no cracks or voids in castings, etc etc). Maybe they outsource them. But finding contract manufacturers who do a good job is a highly skilled business. And cyclists depend on stuff like this to work. I once had the top of a cheapo seatpost break off on a road bike, in the late fall, far from home. Cheezy metal manufacturing. Cold couple of hours waiting for a rescue. Happily I didn't crash. I learned my lesson. Now I buy stuff from my local bike shop, or sometimes REI if I'm far from home. The possibility of counterfeit parts is frightening. I know I can trust the local bike shop to source decent parts.