How do Secrecy Orders affect foreign filing licenses?

Secrecy Orders have significant impacts on foreign filing licenses:

• A Secrecy Order prevents the granting of a foreign filing license.
• It overrides the 6-month rule, prohibiting foreign filing even after 6 months.
• Applications under a Secrecy Order cannot be exported or filed in foreign countries.
• Violating a Secrecy Order can result in abandonment of the invention and other penalties.

The MPEP states: “Only the imposition of a Secrecy Order will cause revocation of the authority which arises from 35 U.S.C. 184 to file a foreign application 6 months or later after the date of filing of a corresponding U.S. patent application.”

For more information on Secrecy Orders, refer to MPEP 120.

For more information on foreign filing license, visit: foreign filing license.

For more information on USPTO, visit: USPTO.