You&#x27;re misreading parent&#x27;s comment. What s&#x2F;he is saying is that if someone flat-out copied your design, then that would presumably be trade secret appropriation.<p>Patents are SUPPOSED to cover the case where someone else invents the same thing in parallel, independently. You might not like it, but that&#x27;s a legal fact. Clearly, you have a different moral opinion of when someone should be able to enforce their patent rights.