You don't understand patents, they are applied country by country. There isn't a worldwide patent, other than patenting it in each country.

>>>How does that work? Does the government patent it instead ?
>>
>>No, the Government just stops you from patenting it, it you can't patent it in any other country or discuss it with anyone.
>
>So if no-one in the U.S. has patented the idea and it is subsequently (and independlently) discovered in another nation then a non-US entity will reap the benefit ? In that case, would the U.S. choose to flout international patent agreements and allow unlicensed use of the technolgy in the US?