Can Google or USPTO employees access your patent/trademark search keywords?

[adamka]

Can Google or USPTO employees access your patent/trademark search keywords?

After all, keywords are dead give-aways. So if they do have access, what's to stop any of them from telling themselves, "hey, what a great idea, I'll just go ahead & steal it"

I'd appreciate if someone in the know could copy/paste the wording of their privacy policies specifically related to this issue, as well as the URLs which the [hopefully comprehensible?] terminology is pasted from.

Better yet, if someone could translate the wording into dummies' language. Thanks.

[karlitis]

When you file an application with the USPTO, you get a filing receipt with a date on it. Anyone at the PTO who tried to steal your idea would have to file an application after you...so, you could always prove you were first and therefore the inventor.

Google doesn't have access to your application until 18 months after it was filed.

Both entities can do word searches. Using google, anyone can do word searches:

http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en

OF COURSE GOOGLE EMPLOYEES CAN MONITOR YOUR SEARCH TERMS. READ THE PRIVACY OR LACK THERE OF AGREEMENT. I'm sure the programmers at the pto could monitor them too. Heck, the NSA is monitoring ALL communications.