Patents mean nothing these days. The Chinese do not care about patents. Patent infringement cases can take decades to work thru the courts of just one country, much less dozens. The minute the design is published the stealing begins..................
Well then the poor guy is screwed because relying on trade secrecy for something that is easily discoverable once you have the hardware is no protection at all. At least with a patent you can protect some of your rights in the Western world.
“Patents mean nothing these days. The Chinese do not care about patents.”
Maybe not IN China, but OUTSIDE China patents matter. The EU and the US will not allow a Chinese product that violates a patent to be sold.
According to your logic, no one should ever file a patent because the Chinese could steal it and sell it worldwide, which is simply not true.