French Patent: defense secrecy!

The French State has the right to expropriate an invention when it is of interest to national defense. This expropriation results in a compulsory and enforced classification as secret, in return for compensation.

For reference, the Direction Generale de l'Armement (DGA — the French defense procurement agency) publishes a list of technologies that may be of interest to national defense. This list includes weapons, ammunition, explosives, equipment and materials used in warfare, law enforcement, protection, and security situations.

We have extracted below the technologies that do not inherently have a solely military purpose but may nevertheless be of interest to national defense:

• materials and chemical compounds intended for military applications (notably alloys and ceramics for structural or coating use),
• detection of explosive, nuclear, or hazardous materials,
• engineering of nuclear or biologically hazardous materials,
• nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical (NRBC) techniques and protections,
• isotopic separation techniques and uranium enrichment,
• target detection and localization,
• unmanned land, aerial, or naval observation vehicles,
• command, control, communication, and intelligence systems,
• military photographic and observation equipment,
• encryption, decryption, and secrecy protection techniques,
• computing resources intended for military applications,
• communication, signaling, identification, navigation, and piloting technologies for military applications,
• antennas and associated circuits for military systems,
• radar, sonar, and analogous systems,
• radiological equipment intended for military or security applications,
• directed energy devices,
• electronic, optoelectronic, infrared components and devices intended for military applications.