Exporting Technology Information to Colleagues Abroad Requires License
Employees of Maryland companies with R&D, manufacturing, and other capabilities located outside the US may be tempted to collaborate with their counterparts located abroad. It's important to remember, however, that exporting technology information outside the US is highly regulated by several US agencies.
If the exportation of technology information to overseas colleagues (or to anyone else) is for the sole purpose of filing a patent application outside the US, a license to export that information must first be obtained from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO). 35 U.S.C. § 184 provides the legal basis for that requirement:
"Except when authorized by a license obtained from the Commissioner of Patents a person shall not file or cause or authorize to be filed in any foreign country prior to six months after filing in the United States an application for patent or for the registration of a utility model, industrial design, or model in respect of an invention made in this country. A license shall not be granted with respect to an invention subject to an order issued by the Commissioner of Patents pursuant to section 181 of this title [Patent Secrecy Act] without the concurrence of the head of the departments and the chief officers of the agencies who caused the order to be issued. The license may be granted retroactively where an application has been filed abroad through error and without deceptive intent and the application does not disclose an invention within the scope of section 181 [i.e, secrecy] of this title."
The term "application" includes patent applications and any modifications, amendments, or supplements thereto, or divisions thereof.
For information concerning the consequences of failing to comply with the requirements set forth above, continue reading...
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