Moreover, the term "classified patents" is also
inappropriate in that secrecy orders need not pertain
to classified material. A patent application
containing unclassified material can also be subject
to a secrecy order.
With nearly a half million U.S. patent applications
filed annually and secrecy orders renewable for
subsequent years, 5,002 secrecy orders in effect is a
miniscule number that is hardly newsworthy. Resorting
to publishing "blacking out five Thomas Edisons from
history" hyperbole gives an appearance of editorial
desperation.
--- reginal..._at_hotmail.com wrote:
>
> Interesting blurb from the Oct. 18/07 edition of the
> New Scientist.
>
> "Over 5000 US patents are now state secrets
>
> 18 October 2007
>
> NewScientist.com news service
>
> It's the equivalent to blacking out five Thomas
> Edisons from history.
> Over 5000 patents in the US have now been decreed
> too sensitive to be
> made public, five times the number once held by
> America's most
> celebrated inventor.
>
> Figures released by the US Patent and Trademark
> Office last week show
> that secrecy orders were applied to 128 patents in
> the year to October
> 2007 - taking the total number to 5002. Of the new
> orders, 53 were on
> private inventors, against 29 in 2006.
>
> The US Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 allows US
> military and
> intelligence agencies to impose a gagging order on
> any patent -
> whether from a commercial R & D or a garage inventor
> - if its
> publication threatens national security.
>
> Private inventors
>
> Of the new orders, 53 were served on private
> inventors, compared to 29
> in 206 and 32 in 2005. The secrecy orders require
> inventors not to
> reveal details of their invention in any way - or
> risk 2 years in
> jail.
>
> 'I suspect that the oldest secret patents date back
> the ealy days of
> nuclear weapons,' says Steven Aftergood, who tracks
> government secrecy
> issues for the Federation of American Scientists.
> 'There are certain
> technologies that have not ceased to be sensitive
> despite the passage
> of 50 or 60 years.'
>
> Aftergood adds that the policy in unlikely to have
> stifled a modern-
> day Edison. 'It would be rather nice to think
> [they]had the answer to
> global warming or some other miracle
> energy-generation technology, but
> it's more likely to be a nuclear-powered can
> opener,' he says."
>
>
> The end.
> ......................
>
> Reg Curtis
>
>
>
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:21 CST