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Patenting Inventions That Embody Computer Programs Held As Trade Secrets—White Consolidated Industries V. Vega Servo-Control, 713 F.2d 788 (Fed. Cir. 1983), Ellen Lauver Weber
Patenting Inventions That Embody Computer Programs Held As Trade Secrets—White Consolidated Industries V. Vega Servo-Control, 713 F.2d 788 (Fed. Cir. 1983), Ellen Lauver Weber
Washington Law Review
An inventor develops a numerical control system that allows a computer program to control the complex operation of machine tools such as drill bits. One of the elements in the numerical control system is a trade secret available only from the inventor. The inventor would like to patent the system as a whole, but an inventor must generally disclose how the invention works in order to obtain a patent. Must this inventor completely disclose how the trade secret works in order to obtain a patent on the whole system? The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said "yes" in White Consolidated …