3 ms·
If you publish the invention, then you will not be able to obtain patent protection for it, generally speaking. Perhaps the statute and rules have a more precis
by zekevermillion 10y ago
If you publish the invention, then you will not be able to obtain patent protection for it, generally speaking. Perhaps the statute and rules have a more precise definition of "national security" in this case. But I think the objection is that, like national security letters and other such secret state tools, it is difficult to figure out what forum there is for you to argue with the government over their interpretation of the law. Still, I don't see how we can get around having some sort of non-public mechanism for the military to suppress disclosure of defense tech.
- ridgeguy 10y agoOP said "...in parallel with filing of a patent application you can just publish it...". I think he means that upon filing the patent application, one publishes what one has filed to mitigate the return to the government from classifying the invention as secret. This would not impair the patentability of the invention. Patent applications (in the US) are published 18 months after their earliest filing date [1] unless the applicant requests earlier publication. The applicant's chances of receiving a patent are unchanged by publishing the invention after the application is filed. A downside could be that should the patent application fail, or be withdrawn by the applicant, the invention falls in the public domain because it's been published and no patent protection issued. [1] http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1120.html http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1120.html