Can't release? Employer Client IP issues?

Some add-on developers encounter problems when their clients (quite understandably) wants to protect their intellectual property. Hence they are reluctant to release the add-ons being created. This article was created to collect strong arguments for releasing, and to counter arguments against.

Positive effects:

1. Goodwill, cred, visibility: The company will be credited with supporting the community, this can be used in recruitment and also be good marketing .
2. Further development: Other developers might use the code and contribute back to it.
3. More eyes on the code: Could result in higher-quality code.

Counter arguments:

1. Competitors might steal the technology: This is unlikely, add-ons to a specific framework aren't that portable unless the competitor also uses the same framework. And if they did, it would have to contain your name for their customers to see.
2. Security issues: Add-ons are fringe UI functionality. If security is not only client-side, but in UI add-ons, there are other problems that need to be addressed. Either way, general UI-components should not give many insights into business processes and practises.
3. Intellectual property value: Is this technology really so forefront and unique that it can be sold to other companies? If so, remember that web clients in general are practically impossible to protect from reverse engineering.

Possibilities

If you company or employer uses json-schema-form-based techniques, please consider joining the json-schema-form consortium.