Jeff Liebermann wrote:
http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/feb2/vesprman.htm
"As a former Patent Examiner, I can tell you that the number
of 'secretized' patents in the vault at the Patent Office
(Park 5 Bldg.) is closer to 4000 or more. They [applicants]
never receive a patent number, and the inventor is rarely,
if ever, compensated by the government for use of the
invention."

That's an interesting question. Normally an inventor is not compensated for
the use of their invention, as it were, by an employer. In most cases the
employer owns the research it funded and the results (including patents)
of that research.

Quite often the payment for a patent was one dollar. The late father of a
late friend of mine was one of the inventors on 18 patents filed by RCA,
9 of which he was the principal inventor. From what I remember he received
besides his regular salary, an offical payment of $1 for the rights to each
of them, and a nice little plaque for his wall.

In some exceptional cases, usually where the inventor is a noted expert
in the field before employment they negotiated different terms. There were
also independent inventors who filed "invention disclosures" and then
attempted to sell the invention to investors or companies in the field.

This has pretty much disapeared in the US as people now file provisional
patent applications and market those. The problem of this system is that
abandoned provisional patent applications become public domain when they
expire (one year after first publication or filing, whichever is earlier)
and invention disclosures, never being publicised could go on forever.

The other question I have is if a patent is filled and never publicised,
how does one know it exists? If someone else invents the idea (actually very
common) and files a patent are they refused? Are they sued for infringment?

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM