Just a nitpick, by definition what does not have protection is not IP.
As long as they remain secret they have protection, but the very act of outing them makes them not secret. I am aware of very few successful suits defending trade secrets.
Trade secrets cases are lost when the owner is claiming something is a trade secret when it doesn't meet the legal definition of a trade secret.
Trade secrets are useful for long-lived secrets like the formula for Coca-cola. But if someone independently develops the same thing you are trying to keep secret too bad.
Also, if the secret accidentally gets out (w/o theft) the trade secret enters the public domain.
It probably doesn't matter at all.