Under 37 CFR § 1.14 United States Patent applications are preserved in confidence until published, which, by statue is 18 months from the priority date.
All of our most sensitive data, new inventions and latest developments in artificial intelligence, engineering, healthcare and technology, safely housed within the USPTO without public access until access is granted to all equally with the publishing of the application.
This is the quid pro quo of the patent system. In exchange for a limited monopoly, applicants must fully disclose their invention. This disclosure, further, must legally comply with 35 U.S.C. Section 112, in that it must describe the invention fully enough to demonstrate possession of the same and also must enable the public to practice the invention. This central dogma of the patent system encourages the progress of science and the arts, by providing access to critical advances in science, in exchange for a limited period of exclusivity. The system also disincentivizes the alternative, keeping all advances private under a theory of trade secrets.
The patent office endures constant cyber security attacks to gain access to these confidential patent applications. Keeping this information safe from attacks by unscrupulous competitors, and even foreign governments is a full time endeavor by an entire department within our USPTO.
Despite these efforts to preserve the integrity of patent applications, the President's creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) puts this proprietary technological information at rise of disclosure to Elon Musk and his newly created agency.
The January 20 Executive Order establishing the DOGE tasked it with modernizing government technology, with unprecedented access to sensitive government information. As a one of the largest government agencies, the USPTO is fully withing the purview of this mandate. The White House has classified Musk as a special government employee with a limited contract, which means he is exempt from certain regulations regarding financial disclosure and transparency.
Reports are that that DOGE inspectors have already gained access to classified materials, including intelligence reports, at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), sensitive government payment systems, including for Social Security and Medicare, at the Treasury Department, and federal personnel data from the Office of Personnel Management.
Much has been made of the organization's access to proprietary financial information, but what about sensitive patent information?
A federal judge recently blocked Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans. The injunction blocked Musk's team from access to the Treasury Department's central payment system which handles tax refunds, Social Security benefits, veterans' benefits and much more, sending out trillions of dollars every year while containing an expansive network of Americans' personal and financial data.
What about also safeguarding the American inventor?
There are currently 896,000 unexamined patent applications sitting at the patent office. Inventions for everything to star wars technology, vaccines, drugs, AI advances and engineering data that will form the basis of companies, and economic development for years to come. Is this confidential proprietary information now freely available to an unvetted agency made up of technology based business executives from the private sector?
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