No. Getting a U.S. patent does not give you an affirmative right to practice your invention, a patent instead gives you the right to exclude others from practicing it.
State and federal law (such as criminal statutes) can prohibit you from engaging in certain activities irrespective of your patent. Suppose you successfully patent some type of method for assassinating someone, or a chemical or biological weapon, or some type of cryptographic algorithm whose manufacture, sale, or import is illegal under current state or federal law. A patent will not suddenly transform these illegal activities into legal ones.
What effect, then, will the patent have in these situations? If someone else in the United States were to practice these activities, in addition to incurring their own criminal liability for violating the above-mentioned state and/or federal laws, you might be able to sue them civilly for patent infringement to recover monetary damages. "Might" being the operative word here -- because when it comes to the criminal code, other statutes can preempt remedies normally available under U.S. patent law. Why? Certain legislators may not want an individual to potentially profit from the illegal activities of someone else. On the other hand, adding a civil deterrent to an activity that already includes a criminal deterrent may increase the overall deterrent effect associated with the proscribed activity, thereby decreasing the frequency of its occurrence within the public at large.
Moral of the story: Securing a patent for an illegal device or illegal activity is usually a questionable proposition.
State and federal law (such as criminal statutes) can prohibit you from engaging in certain activities irrespective of your patent. Suppose you successfully patent some type of method for assassinating someone, or a chemical or biological weapon, or some type of cryptographic algorithm whose manufacture, sale, or import is illegal under current state or federal law. A patent will not suddenly transform these illegal activities into legal ones.
What effect, then, will the patent have in these situations? If someone else in the United States were to practice these activities, in addition to incurring their own criminal liability for violating the above-mentioned state and/or federal laws, you might be able to sue them civilly for patent infringement to recover monetary damages. "Might" being the operative word here -- because when it comes to the criminal code, other statutes can preempt remedies normally available under U.S. patent law. Why? Certain legislators may not want an individual to potentially profit from the illegal activities of someone else. On the other hand, adding a civil deterrent to an activity that already includes a criminal deterrent may increase the overall deterrent effect associated with the proscribed activity, thereby decreasing the frequency of its occurrence within the public at large.
Moral of the story: Securing a patent for an illegal device or illegal activity is usually a questionable proposition.
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