Oh great…black patents?

Until tonight’s web surfing adventure, I’d never heard of “black patents.” They are U.S. secrecy orders curtailing patents on private inventions and, according to the US Patent & Trademark Organization, are on the rise.

There are several types of secrecy orders, which range in severity from simple prohibitions on export, but allowing other disclosure for legitimate business purposes, up to classification, requiring secure storage of the application and prohibition of all disclosure.

Certainly some restrictions are necessary for national security and defense related restrictions have been in place since this nation was founded. But the distrust engendered by other regulatory moves by the unprecedented secrecy-obsessed Bush Administration make one wonder about this sudden acceleration in patent restrictions.