View source for Engineering:Invention Secrecy Act

{{short description|United States national security law}}
{{Infobox legislation
| short_title         = Invention Secrecy Act of 1951
| legislature         = United States Congress
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| long_title          = An Act to provide for the withholding of certain patents that might be detrimental to the national security, and for other purposes
| citation            = 66 Stat. 3
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| date_enacted        = February 1, 1952
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| bill_citation       = ({{USStatute|82|256|66|3|1952|02|01}}
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The '''Invention Secrecy Act of 1951''' ({{USStatute|82|256|66|3|1952|02|01}}, codified at {{Usc-title-chap|35|17}}) is a body of United States federal law designed to prevent disclosure of new [[Invention|invention]]s and technologies that, in the opinion of selected federal agencies, present an alleged threat to the [[Finance:Economic stability|economic stability]] or [[Social:National security|national security]] of the {{wipe|United States}}. Each year, tens of thousands of new inventions and patent applications are manually reviewed to decide if they should be hidden from the public.<ref name="Shulz Wired April 13 2013" />

Ideas restricted by the Invention Secrecy Act's ''"[[Engineering:Invention Secrecy Act#Types of Secrecy Orders|Secrecy Orders]]"'' can be prohibited from any public disclosure; sales to any party except the United States military industry or [[Export Administration Regulations|exports to other nations]] can be prohibited; and can even be simply sealed from the public as classified.<ref name="Dilawar Slate May 9, 2018" /><ref name="Gross NBER July 1, 2019" /> Any appeals are limited to the United States Federal agency that itself restricted the ideas.<ref name="Dilawar Slate May 9, 2018" /> Violation of United States government Secrecy Orders to reveal your ideas may lead to arrest and imprisonment.<ref name="Shulz Wired April 13 2013" />

==World War I and II background==

The United States government has long sought to control the release of new technologies that might threaten the national defense and [[Finance:Economic stability|economic stability]] of the country. During [[Social:World War I|World War I]], Congress authorized the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to classify certain defense-related patents. This initial effort lasted only for the duration of that war but was reimposed in October 1941 in anticipation of the entry of the United States into [[Social:World War II|World War II]]. Secrecy Orders were initially intended to remain effective for two years, beginning on July 1, 1940, but were later extended for the duration of the second World War.<ref name="Gross HBS March 13, 2019 page" /><ref name="Gross HBS March 13, 2019 full paper" /> Through World War II alone, at least 11,000 inventions were reported for classification review by the United States Government, and other analysis found that in the WWII era at least 8,475 inventions were forcibly classified, accounting for 75% of all new inventions in that time period, where over 20,000 total patents were reviewed for possible restrictions.<ref name="CEPR manifold impacts April 19, 2022" /><ref name="Gross NBER July 1, 2019" />

==Invention Secrecy Act of 1951==

The Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 made such patent secrecy permanent, though the order to suppress any invention must be renewed each year, except during periods of declared war or national emergency.<ref name="USPTO 120 Secrecy Orders January 31, 2024" /> Under this Act, defense agencies provide the PTO with a classified list of sensitive technologies in the form of the "Patent Security Category Review List" (PSCRL).<ref name="USPTO 120 Secrecy Orders January 31, 2024" /> The decision to classify new inventions under this act is made by "defense agencies" as defined by the President,<ref name="USPTO 120 Secrecy Orders January 31, 2024" /> These agencies include the Army, Navy, {{wipe|United States Air Force}}, [[Organization:National Security Agency|National Security Agency]], Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, [[Organization:NASA|NASA]], but even the Justice Department has played this role.<ref name="Shulz Wired April 13 2013" /> Each year, tens of thousands of inventions and patent applications are reviewed by hand to decide if they should be allowed to be published or should be hidden from the public.<ref name="Shulz Wired April 13 2013" />

A Secrecy Order bars the award of a patent, orders that the invention be kept secret, restricts the filing of foreign patents, and specifies procedures to prevent disclosure of ideas contained in the application.<ref name="Dilawar Slate May 9, 2018" /> The only way an inventor can avoid the risk of such imposed secrecy is to forgo patent protection.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} Disclosure of inventions or ideas restricted by a Secrecy Order can lead to arrest and imprisonment.<ref name="Shulz Wired April 13 2013" />

By the end of [[Physics:Fiscal year|fiscal year]] 1991, the number of patent Secrecy Orders stood at 6,193.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} Many such orders were imposed on individuals and organizations working without government support.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} This number shrank for each fiscal year thereafter, until 2002.  Since 2002, the number of Secrecy Orders has grown, with 5,002 Secrecy Orders in effect at the end of fiscal year 2007.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} In the four-year window of 2013 to 2017, an average of 117 new inventions per year were restricted with Secrecy Orders.<ref name="Dilawar Slate May 9, 2018" /> In the same 2013-2017 period of time, an average of 25 Secrecy Orders were reportedly rescinded per year.<ref name="Dilawar Slate May 9, 2018" />

==Types of Secrecy Orders==

There are three known types of Secrecy Orders which can be enforced, referred to as Types I, II and III<ref name="Saltz Texas A&M February 22, 2022" />. 

Type I Secrecy Orders, referred to as ''"Secrecy Order and Permit for Foreign Filing in Certain Countries"'', typically are used to restrict ideas or materials derived from government funding which may not be themselves secret or classified prior to receiving a Secrecy Order under the Invention Secrecy Act, but may be already under some manner of restrictions from either or both of [[Export Administration Regulations]] and [[International Traffic in Arms Regulations]]<ref name="Saltz Texas A&M February 22, 2022" />. Type II Secrecy Orders, also known as ''"Secrecy Order and Permit for Disclosing Classified Information"'', apply to ideas and inventions that may already be in part composed of classified concepts and technologies, or that can be, and that were submitted for patent review by Americans who already hold some manner of United States Department of Defense security agreements<ref name="Saltz Texas A&M February 22, 2022" />. Types I and II, therefore, typically apply to ideas and concepts already within the United States government domain<ref name="Saltz Texas A&M February 22, 2022" />. 

Type III Secrecy Orders, called a ''"General Secrecy Order"'', are used as a "catch-all" to restrict any ideas, technologies or inventions that would not be covered by the government affiliation involved with Type I and Type II Secrecy Orders<ref name="Saltz Texas A&M February 22, 2022" />. Type III Secrecy Orders would be used toward inventions by the general public<ref name="Saltz Texas A&M February 22, 2022" />.

==Criticism and concerns==

Through 2012-2020, the United States Patent Office began investigations into expanding application of the Invention Secret Act to have more consideration of economic impacts on American markets from new inventions, if those new ideas may be disruptive to existing industries<ref name="CEPR manifold impacts April 19, 2022" />. There is no known data on the economic impacts of "compulsory secrecy" for new ideas under the Invention Secrecy Act<ref name="CEPR manifold impacts April 19, 2022" />. Studies have concluded that the Invention Secrecy Act leads to an overall reduction in the number of new inventions being presented, due to the nature of how [[Scientific method|inventions and sciences build upon prior discoveries]]<ref name="IJIO Patents study December 23, 2023" />. The Invention Secrecy Act has been criticized for having no defined standards or regulatory framework of what sorts of ideas may be sealed under Secrecy Orders and the lack of any safeguards for privacy or intellectual property rights<ref name="Saltz Texas A&M February 22, 2022" />.

==1971 declassified Category Review List==

A declassified document from January 1971, ''"PATENT SECURITY CATEGORY REVIEW LIST"'', lists the categories of all inventions that the US Patent Office would refer to the Armed Services Patent Advisory Board for consideration of becoming classified under the Invention Secrecy Act<ref name="1971 Declassified Category List" />

The high-level categories of inventions from 1971 which can be forcibly classified are listed as the following, and each section includes an expansive spectrum of topics beneath each:

* Amplifiers, Recorders, Sensors and Electronic Tubes
* Computers
* Concealment, Communications, Countermeasures & Counter-countermeasures 
* Contracts
* Explosives & Inflammables
* Explosive Actuating Methods & Means: Fuzes, igniton, Mine Sweeping & Torpedoes 
* Explosive Device Detection Methods & Means 
* Mapping, Charting & Geodesy 
* Materials
* Meteorology
* Military Photography
* Missiles, Munitions and Explosive Devices
* Navigation Equipment
* Object Locating Methods & Means 
* Power Supply
* Propulsion Systems, Propellants, & Fuels
* Protective Measures
* Radiology
* Unique Materials, Devices, or Performance Data and Characteristics
* Vehicles
* Weapons, Counter-weapons & Fire control

==See also==
* Born secret
* Classified information in the United States
* Export of cryptography from the United States
* Free energy suppression conspiracy theory
* [[International Traffic in Arms Regulations]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Shulz Wired April 13 2013">{{Cite web|date=2013-04-13|title=Government Secrecy Orders on Patents Have Stifled More Than 5,000 Inventions|last=Shulz|first=G.W.|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/04/gov-secrecy-orders-on-patents/|access-date=2024-01-30|url-status=live|website=Wired (magazine)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421092328/https://www.wired.com/2013/04/gov-secrecy-orders-on-patents/|archive-date=2014-04-21}}</ref>

<ref name="1971 Declassified Category List">{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/invention/pscrl.pdf|title=PATENT SECURITY CATEGORY REVIEW LIST|date=January 1971|url-status=live|website=Armed Services Patent Advisory Board - Patent Security Category Review List (1971)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904033715/https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/invention/pscrl.pdf|archive-date=2021-09-04|access-date=2024-01-30}}</ref>

<ref name="Dilawar Slate May 9, 2018">{{Cite web|date=2018-05-09|title=The U.S. Government’s Secret Inventions: Secrecy orders allow U.S. defense agencies to control patents, including those that are privately developed.|last=Dilawar|first=Arvind|url=https://slate.com/technology/2018/05/the-thousands-of-secret-patents-that-the-u-s-government-refuses-to-make-public.html|access-date=2024-01-31|url-status=live|website=Slate (magazine)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509182726/https://slate.com/technology/2018/05/the-thousands-of-secret-patents-that-the-u-s-government-refuses-to-make-public.html|archive-date=2018-05-09}}</ref>

<ref name="Gross HBS March 13, 2019 page">{{Cite web|date=2019-03-13|title=The Consequences of Invention Secrecy: Evidence from the USPTO Patent Secrecy Program in World War II|last=Gross|first=Daniel P.|url=http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-consequences-of-invention-secrecy-evidence-from-the-uspto-patent-secrecy-program-in-world-war-i|access-date=2024-01-31|website=HBS Working Knowledge|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810171533/https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-consequences-of-invention-secrecy-evidence-from-the-uspto-patent-secrecy-program-in-world-war-i|archive-date=2020-08-10}}</ref>

<ref name="Gross HBS March 13, 2019 full paper">{{Cite web|date=2019-03-13|title=The Consequences of Invention Secrecy: Evidence from the USPTO Patent Secrecy Program in World War II|last=Gross|first=Daniel P.|url=https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/19-090_5225cb00-a67f-4026-98a4-2bc83c6e659f.pdf|access-date=2024-01-31|website=HBS Working Knowledge|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628151658/https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/19-090_5225cb00-a67f-4026-98a4-2bc83c6e659f.pdf|archive-date=2023-06-28}}</ref>

<ref name="Gross NBER July 1, 2019">{{Cite web|date=2019-07-01|title=WWII Policy Kept Patents Secret, Slowed Innovation|last=Gross|first=Daniel P.|url=https://www.nber.org/digest/jul19/wwii-policy-kept-patents-secret-slowed-innovation|access-date=2024-01-30|url-status=live|website=[[Organization:National Bureau of Economic Research|National Bureau of Economic Research]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606103334/https://www.nber.org/digest/jul19/wwii-policy-kept-patents-secret-slowed-innovation|archive-date=2023-06-06}}</ref>

<ref name="USPTO 120 Secrecy Orders January 31, 2024">{{Cite web|date=2023-02-16|title=United States Patent and Trademark Office, 120 Secrecy Orders [R-07.2022]|url=https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s120.html|access-date=2024-01-31|url-status=live|website=United States Patent and Trademark Office|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130180044/https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s120.html|archive-date=2024-01-30}}</ref>

<ref name="CEPR manifold impacts April 19, 2022">{{Cite web|date=2022-04-19|title=The hidden costs of securing innovation: The manifold impacts of compulsory invention secrecy|url=https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/hidden-costs-securing-innovation-manifold-impacts-compulsory-invention-secrecy|access-date=2024-01-31|url-status=live|website=[[Organization:Centre for Economic Policy Research|Centre for Economic Policy Research]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926035643/https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/hidden-costs-securing-innovation-manifold-impacts-compulsory-invention-secrecy|archive-date=2022-09-26}}</ref>

<ref name="IJIO Patents study December 23, 2023">{{Cite web|date=2023-12-23|title=Do patents enable disclosure? Evidence from the invention secrecy act|last1=de Rassenfosse|first1=Gaétan P.|last2=Pellegrino|first2=Gabriele|last3=Raiteri|first3=Emilio|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167718723001133|access-date=2024-01-31|url-status=live|website=
International Journal of Industrial Organization hosted on [[ScienceDirect]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131230938/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167718723001133|archive-date=2024-01-31}}</ref>

<ref name="Saltz Texas A&M February 22, 2022">{{Cite web|date=2022-02-16|title=Patently Absurd: The Invention Secrecy Order System|last=Saltz|first=Gregory|url=https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1189&context=journal-of-property-law|access-date=2024-01-31|url-status=live|website=Texas A&M University School of Law|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519155336/https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1189&context=journal-of-property-law|archive-date=2022-05-19}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
* {{USPL|77|239|AN ACT To amend the Act relating to preventing the publication of inventions in the national interest, and for other purposes}}
* [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode35/usc_sup_01_35_10_II_20_17.html Title 35, Chapter 17 of the US Code--full text of the Act] from the Legal Information Institute
* [http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/invention/index.html Invention Secrecy], from the Federation of American Scientists
* Foerstel, Herbert N., ''Secret Science: Federal Control of American Science and Technology''. Westport: Praeger, 1993, pp.&nbsp;165–172.
* "Invention Secrecy Still Going Strong," ''Secrecy & Government Bulletin'', May 1993, p.&nbsp;2.
* https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2010/10/invention_secrecy_2010/
* http://www.freethetech.org

[[Category:Military technology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Invention Secrecy Act}}