The The Institute of Secret Inventions: A Factor of the National Security

Abstract

The paper provides an economic and legal analysis of the creation and functioning of the institution of secret inventions in the leading countries of the world and Ukraine, with outlining its role in economic development and national security. The strategic significance and importance of secret inventions for the national economy and security are considered, economic and statistical indicators, organizational and economic aspects of classification and the importance of timely declassification of inventions for the economic development and world science are analyzed. The purpose of the legal protection of secret inventions is highlighted.

Regulation of secret inventions in foreign countries with well-established patent systems (USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Poland) is carried out within the framework of national patent laws regulating the legal protection of inventions. It is shown that during the 20th century the Institute of Secret Inventions made a huge contribution to strengthening the national security of such leading countries as the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and France. In the former USSR, the institution of secret inventions was an essential element in the system of secrecy regime, largely ensuring the possibility of achieving and then containing the military-technical parity between the USSR and the United States. The obvious need for its further preservation in these countries does not raise doubts among specialists. An analysis of the current state of affairs indicates that the leading countries of the world have not only preserved their national institutions of secret inventions, but also continue to actively work to improve them. It is noted that the Laws of Ukraine “On the Protection of Rights to Inventions and Utility Models” and “On State Secrets” do not provide for the payment of monetary compensation to the owner of a secret invention for their decision to classify them, which makes it impossible to effectively use them in economic activity. A mechanism for determining the amount of compensation for classifying an invention is proposed. In institutions, organizations, enterprises of Ukraine, an inventory of inventions of the former USSR with the stamp “For official use” (“DSP”) and secret (about 250 thousand) belonging to Ukrainian applicants has not been carried out. The losses are analyzed, caused by Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Agreement on the Mutual Ensuring the Safety of Interstate Secrets in the Field of Legal Protection of Inventions, which prevented domestic researchers and designers from utilizing more than thousand advanced technical decisions in developing weapons and military equipment. It is recommended that this problem should be urgently resolved by the Ministry of Economic Development of Ukraine, jointly with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The Ministry of Economic Development of Ukraine, together with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, is proposed to urgently resolve this problem. Taking into account the rapidly increasing scopes of patent applications in recent years worldwide (along with the increasing scopes of inventions aimed at the security and defense), the escalation of the international tensions, this economic and legal institution, dealing with issues of national security, will become increasingly important.