Legal Question in Intellectual Property in District of Columbia

Can the US government under extraordinary circumstances seize a patented process

Are there any circumstances under which the US government can, for national security reasons and for the public good, ''seize'' control of a scientific process that is protected under an existing patent? Such seizure would be based upon the fact that (1) the patented process is of enormous strategic and financial interest to the people of the US, and (2) the patent holder is demonstrably emotionally unstable and has, over the first several years of the patent, blocked many reasonable efforts by his business associates to license and market the process. I have personal knowledge of the above circumstances. This is an extraordinary and tragic situation for the American people and one that begs for some kind of intervention by the US government. The patent holder would, of course be entitled to fair market value of licensing of his process. Were the nature of the process known, everybody would agree that time is of the essence-- the sooner this process is developed and available to the US and to the world the better civilization will be.

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