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isn't it such that saying something is anti-competitive doesn't necessarily mean 'in violation of antitrust laws'? it usually implies it, but I think you can be anti-competitive without breaking any rules (or laws).

I do think it's sort of unproductive/inflammatory in the OP, it isn't really nefarious not to want people to have easy access to your secret sauce.

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In what sense is not giving your competitors ammunition "anti-competitive"? That seems pretty competitive to me. More to the point: it's almost universally how competition in our economy actually works.

I think maybe we're just disagreeing on a legal interpretation vs a more literal interpretation of a term that is thrown around somewhat loosely.

fwiw I agree with what you're getting at with your original response. maybe I'm arguing semantics.

the more I think about your point that this is just competitive behavior the more I question what the term anti-competive even means

Competition is important for maintaining a healthy marketplace. Any behavior that makes it harder for others to compete, reducing the amount of competition, is therefore bad. That's what anticompetitive means.

I don't think protecting trade secrets is sabotaging the competition though.

I think sabotage is the word I was looking for!

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