From: thad@hammerhead.com (Thaddeus J. Beier)
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 95 23:52:44 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Patents and trade secrets was: Encryption algorithms used in PrivaSoft
Message-ID: <199509210637.XAA11478@hammerhead.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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> But don't they have to put something on the patent application?  Can they
> claim trade secret status for something that was on a patent application,
> but rejected?  That seems like they're getting it both ways. 

At this point, in this country, a patent is secret until it is issued.
It is interesting to note that the process of issuing a patent can
take an indefinite period, and to some extent it is in the control of
the person seeking the patent.  The typical slimy thing to do is
to file for a patent, and keep it a trade secret too.   Delay the
issuance until somebody discovers your secret, then allow the patent
to be issued.  This is called a "submarine" patent.  It allows
the best of both worlds, and extends the patent as far in to the
future as possible (17 years from issue date, in this country,
regardless of filing date).

You can delay the patent's issuance by continuing to file amendments
to it.  Gilbert Hyatt's recent patent on microprocessors is the
classic example.

Now, this is all expected to change, to become more harmonious
with the rest of the world.  The changes that I've heard are
1) Go to first-to-file instead of first-to-invent
2) Life is 20 years from filing date, instead of 17 years from issue date
3) Publicize patents some fixed time from filing date, say 1 year

As you can imagine there are armies of lawyers on both sides of the
issue, so I don't think that you'll see any changes in the law any
time soon, but you never know.

thad
-- Thaddeus Beier                   email:  thad@hammerhead.com
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