Patents grant rights because the invention will become known and imitated. Developers don’t live in a vacuum, parallel researchers will be on to it in a few years regardless of imposed secrecy.
Can anyone think of an economically advantageous invention that remained a secret? (Aside from the current conspiracies, of course).
When a patent is granted it publishes every minute detail of components and describes how it works. The patent grants 17 years of “legal protection”, not actual “secret” protection. If someone copies the patent the government does not prosecute the violator, you have to sue them in Federal Civil Court at your own expense.
I know some inventors and chemists that prefer to not patent and instead hold the secret to themselves. Of course that secret is easier kept with chemical formulas than with mechanical things.
You might enjoy this podcast: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/05/boldrin_on_inte.html
It’s on IP and the history of IP in the US.
Tell me what you think of his analysis.