The Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 (ISA) was established to prevent the disclosure of certain inventions that could pose a risk to national security if released to the public or foreign adversaries. If employees of the USPTO patent secrecy system deem the technology may pose a threat to national security it allows suppression of the patent as well as imposing a Secrecy Order that prevents the inventor from disclosing anything about the technology under penalty of fines and imprisonment.
The fields of technology under which the ISA can be applied include energy production. The act can only be implemented if and when an applicable technology is submitted as a patent application.
The fields of technology under which the ISA can be applied include energy production. The act can only be implemented if and when an applicable technology is submitted as a patent application.
Other Tools of Suppression
In addition to the ISA, the US government may also use National Security Letters that are issued by the FBI that can include gag orders to halt further dissemination, commercialization, or development of an invention and even restricting disclosing that the government has approached or restricted the individual, often under threat of legal action.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provides the U.S. government with various powers related to defense and national security, including control over certain technologies. Under the NDAA, the government can classify or take control of inventions deemed critical for national security, even if the inventor has not submitted a patent application.
Agencies such as the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), or military branches may raid an inventor’s lab or workshop if they believe the technology poses a security risk. This can happen without a patent being filed, particularly in cases involving technologies related to weapons, energy, or communication. It is not always clear what evidence, test, or oversight is applied before approving such seizures, nor what recourse inventors have if this happens.
Unfortunately, in the past, the definition of “threat to national security” has been highly interpreted as a “threat to the current petroleum-based energy business and natural monopolies of electricity distribution”. So in effect, these legally authorized tools have been used consistently to maintain the current paradigm and its associated businesses and major shareholders and as such have kept free energy technology from the public.
In addition to these established legally-supported tools there are other unofficial approaches that have been used as well, including harassment, intimidation, threat of physical harm, actual physical harm, theft, property destruction, character assassination and manipulation of finances.