The Brittle Assets

In our conscience deep

Secrets we all keep

We don’t want people to have any clue

But we also wish to share them with a few

Some secrets have personal tone

Others belong to the commercial zone

They can give a market edge

Provided we are able to hedge

In trade, secrets can take us far

But alas! brittle they are

Ever prone to theft

Dangerous may be the employees who have left

No protection against independent discovery

Once made public there is no recovery

If someone reverse engineers

Forever the secrecy disappears

The tool of patent is born

Only because secrets can be easily torn

Patent offers promises huge

Provided we come out of our secret’s refuge

But we want the best of both the domains

Together we want to walk in both the lanes

Patents we seek on some aspects

Secrets we want to keep in other respects

With such a mix

Markets we want to fix

We use patents as advertisements just

For our secrets to be conveyed in trust