You are working as a senior economist at SpaceCar. SpaceCar produces an electric car called the RAT. The RAT is a new car that has new revolutionary technology in it, far beyond what any other electric cars have in them.
It is felt by the executives that this proprietary technology will change the car buyer public's view toward electric cars forever and make SpaceCar the number one manufacture of automobiles and the RAT the number one selling car of all times. Assuming, no one steals their technology and copies their car design.
SpaceCar's other product/service is the GiantKiller -- a proprietary rocket. SpaceCar uses the GiantKiller to provide low cost rocket launch services to customers looking to have their satellites or other payloads delivered to LEO (low earth orbit) or GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit). The customers pay for the launch services of SpaceCar and the GiantKiller rocket to launch their payload into orbit. The customer never takes possession of the rocket. The GiantKiller rocket is either completely destroyed or recovered and reused by SpaceCar after the customer's payload is placed in orbit.
The executives at SpaceCar are very worried about other countries and firms stealing their technology and/or manufacturing processes. To protect the RAT and the GiantKiller, the executives are debating on whether to either apply for a patent for one or both of their products or to retain one or both products as trade secrets. Trade secrets are just that: secrets. The technology or process is kept secret and you hope no one finds out about the secret and uses it. Remember, to get a patent, you have to publicly reveal how your product works. The executives at SpaceCar wants your opinion about which product/services to apply for a patent and which to maintain as a trade secret.
Your job/assignment is to provide the executives with a list of the pros and cons of using the patent and trade secrets each for the RAT and the GiantKiller. Make a recommendation on which approach will be the best for protecting the company's property for each product and justify it!