Craig,
Getting a patent does not make the algorithm secret. In fact, it does just the opposite. The paperwork that was filed becomes public record so everyone can see how you do something. The patent grants you the right to exclude others from making or using your design.Thanks for this succinct and 100% accurate summary!
For those who are wondering, the difference between Patent and Copyright on software is that the Patent covers the mechanism, not the particular code. So you can beat Copyright by reproducing the code with certain points of difference, but you cannot use a Patented mechanism without permission, even if you recreate it entirely from scratch.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
