To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com. A common but complex problem facing businesses seeking to commercially benefit from an invention is how to protect the invention for their own use. This can be achieved through the grant of a patent or by keeping the invention a 'trade secret'. Product inventions may be complex, but often the best inventions are simple fixes to common problems. An example of a very simple, and highly useful invention, is dental floss.