DDTC Issues ITAR Guidance on Patent Applications
The State Department may intervene in certain patent applications if they contain technical data controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls said in guidance issued Sept. 30. While DDTC said it does not “restrict” the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from publishing patents, it may impose an “invention secrecy order” on the patent application if it contains ITAR-sensitive information. That secrecy order would force the USPTO to “withhold the publication of the application or the grant of a patent.”
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DDTC stressed that the guidance applies only to “domestic” patent applications. It also said information the USPTO publishes as part of a patent application and makes “available at any patent office” is classified as “public domain information” and is not defined as technical data under the ITAR. However, technical data submitted as part of a patent application and not “published and available at any patent office” does not qualify as “information in the public domain” and therefore “remains ITAR-controlled,” DDTC said.