Mary Helen Sears v. Robert Gottschalk, Commissioner of Patents

WINTER, Circuit Judge:

Suing under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (FOIA), plaintiff, a patent attorney, sought to enjoin defendant from withholding “abandoned U. S. patent applications” from her and the public. The suit was instituted because plaintiff’s request to make available to her “all existing abandoned U.S. patent applications” had been denied by the defendant on the ground that the matters sought were barred from disclosure by 35 U.S.C. § 122 (1970). The disti’ict court concluded that the documents sought were exempt from compelled disclosure on the alternate grounds…