IP in Superposition: Patents, Trade Secrets, and Open Innovation in Quantum Information Technology

This chapter analyzes the intellectual property (IP) strategies deployed in quantum information technologies (QIT), showing that firms operate in a “superposition” of approaches: selectively combining patents, trade secrets, and open innovation across different layers of the quantum stack. While patent filings have increased significantly, trade secrecy remains important due to the tacit, context-specific nature of key processes and the constraints of export-control regimes. At the same time, openness is a scientific and often strategic lever, enabling interoperability, cumulative research, and ecosystem formation through mechanisms such as open-source frameworks and cloud-access platforms which can lead to competitive advantage through network effects. Using a governance-stack heuristic that links legal instruments to specific technical layers—from hardware and control systems to software and interfaces—the chapter maps how exclusivity, confidentiality, and collaboration are configured in practice. This layered combination, involving the superposition and entanglement of IP and open innovation, shows that QIT competitive strategy depends not on choosing between proprietary and open models, but on calibrating their combination to fit technical, commercial, and policy objectives. The chapter reframes the prevailing debate in quantum innovation: rather than asking whether patents or secrecy are appropriate for quantum technologies, the key question becomes when, where, and in what form each instrument best serves both private incentives and public goals.