At 5:35 PM 2/7/5, Jones Beene wrote: > >This is naive. Trade secrets are routinely withheld. I >have never seen a patent successfully challenged for >withholding a trade secret, although it is definitely >in the wording of the patent law. I suspect most >patents withhold many secrets. It is just way too easy >to say that the challenger was "unskilled" in the >art...
Witholding information is a great way to lose a patent battle. If it can be shown witholding the information was deliberate then the patent is invalidated. If someone else applies for a patent on the secret, the holder of the secret can not even continue to use his own trade secret because to be able to use it he likely has to disclose he knew about it when he filed for the patent, and thus invalidate what is alrady patented. Further, if not enough information is disclosed for the patent to have utility, one of the requirements for a patent, it is invalidated. Lastly, if a patent is issued to, i.e. an interference is created by, another entity wherein the full disclosure of the "trade secret" is made, and the approach works for anyone skilled in the arts, the court can give the better disclosed application priority, because to follow the fully disclosed approach is to succeed, while to follow the prescription in the partially disclosed work is to fail. Regards, Horace Heffner
