Q: Is there such a thing as the USPTO Hiding an Approved Patent number from the public for any reason? Is it even legal?
Someone is telling me they had the Patent office hide the Patent number for strategic reasons. And are only showing an approval for the application in lieu of the fact that the so called invention is possibly patentable. Makes no sense to me! Why would one hide a the patent number of an approved patent when that's the very idea of having patent protection in the first place...
Thanks!
A:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_Secrecy_Act
Take a look at this article.
A:
You are correct.
Generally, all patents and patent applications are available to the public 18 months after the filing of the application. Keeping a patent as a secret defeats the entire idea behind the patent system.
However, patent applications that have deal with national security may be kept from the public. See https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s115.html
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