Publications
Publications
- 2019
- HBS Working Paper Series
The Consequences of Invention Secrecy: Evidence from the USPTO Patent Secrecy Program in World War II
By: Daniel P. Gross
Abstract
This paper studies the effects of the USPTO's patent secrecy program in World War II, under which over 11,000 U.S. patent applications were issued secrecy orders that halted examination and prohibited inventors from disclosing their inventions or filing in foreign countries. Secrecy orders were issued most heavily in high-tech areas important to the war effort—such as radar, electronics, and synthetic materials—and nearly all were rescinded at the end of the war. I find that compulsory invention secrecy reduced follow-on invention and restricted commercialization, but as part of the security policies in place during the war, it appears to have been effective at keeping sensitive technology out of the public view. The results shed light on the consequences of invention secrecy, which is widely used by inventors to protect and appropriate the returns to innovation and yield lessons for ongoing policy discussions over potential measures to protect U.S. inventors against the growing incidence of foreign IP theft today.
Keywords
Invention Secrecy; Invention Disclosure; Trade Secrecy; Secrecy Orders; Cummulative Innovation; Wold War 2; Patents; National Security; History; Innovation and Invention; Outcome or Result; Intellectual Property; Policy; Commercialization; United States
Citation
Gross, Daniel P. "The Consequences of Invention Secrecy: Evidence from the USPTO Patent Secrecy Program in World War II." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-090, May 2019. (Revised May 2019. NBER Working Paper Series, No. 25545, May 2019)