2008 Oct 29, 3:45Apparently the government routinely suppresses patents when they fear the invention may harm national security. 5002 total patents suppressed at the end of FY07 according to PTO. "...U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office's record of the number of patent applications kept from public scrutiny under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, which allows the government to lock up a patent application on
national security grounds, even if the inventor has no connection to the government."
patent wired article government security
Some rights reserved