NSA Secret Patents

Transcript

the National Security Agency NSA can fil secret patents with the US patent and trademark office under gag orders unlike regular patents these secret patents do not expire and are kept confidential due to National Security concerns the nsa's patents cover Technologies or techniques critical to National Security and are shielded from public disclosure through the secrecy order program this program issues secrecy orders when patent application s contain classified information preventing their publication each secrecy order lasts initially for one year and can be extended annually if the information remains classified if another party attempts to patent the same technology the nsa's patent will be revealed and granted automatically however the secrecy surrounding these patents complicates understanding their full implications and potential applications