Does Elon Musk Have Access To Your Patent Application?

Under 37 CFR § 1.14 United States Patent applications are preserved in confidence until published, which, by statue is 18 months from the priority date.

All of our most sensitive data, new inventions and latest developments in artificial intelligence, engineering, healthcare and technology, safely housed within the USPTO without public access until access is granted to all equally with the publishing of the application.

This is the quid pro quo of the patent system. In exchange for a limited monopoly, applicants must fully disclose their invention. This disclosure, further, must legally comply with 35 U.S.C. Section 112, in that it must describe the invention fully enough to demonstrate possession of the same and also must enable the public to practice the invention. This central dogma of the patent system encourages the progress of science and the arts, by providing access to critical advances in science, in exchange for a limited period of exclusivity. The