This practice was widely condemned at the hearing by members of the Subcommittee and witnesses alike. No one at the hearing stood up for the practice of submarine patents. This is another thorny issue. Under current law patent applications are kept secret until a patent is issued. Yet disclosure serves a purpose.
Present law keeps patent applications secret until a patent issues.
This is a compromise provision. This is another serious subject in the intellectual property community. Currently, the PTO is not only fully supported by fees collected from applicants, but it turns a profit which is used to subsidize other government programs. The PTO is a fee-funded operation receiving no appropriated, taxpayer funds. Hypertext links are to HTML documents in Tech Law Journal.