U.S. Government Property Interests in Patent Rights

by Dennis Crouch

The chart underneath supplies a single seem at the purpose of the U.S. Gov&#8217t in instantly funding patentable research-and-advancement.  You&#8217ll see two curves. The base curve tracks the percent of U.S. utility patents assigned to the U.S. governmental (or agency of the authorities, this sort of as the Navy).  U.S. Gov&#8217t owned patents has dropped precipitously more than the past 40 many years.  The upper curve tracks the proportion that list some U.S. Governing administration interest in the patent &#8212 typically based mostly upon Gov&#8217t funding of the R&D and the federal government interest is presented for beneath the Bayh-Dole Act.  In general, when these two curves are blended with each other, we have a slight downward development in the proportion of patents where the U.S. Gov&#8217t asserts some residence fascination.

Readers should really take note that the major federal government fascination in govt-funded patents are the march-in legal rights outlined in 35 U.S.C. § 200 et seq., and prolonged to massive entities by a variety of govt orders.  Despite the fact that that interest seems strong, it has in no way been utilised by the federal government to dismiss patent operator&#8217s exclusivity.  In addition, the funding agency gets a non-unique license to the patents for governmental uses. &#8220With regard to any invention in which the contractor elects legal rights, the Federal agency shall have a nonexclusive, non-transferrable, irrevocable, paid out-up license to observe or have practiced for or on behalf of the United States any matter invention in the course of the earth.&#8221 35 U.S.C. 202.

The U.S. Gov&#039t disclaims copyright security the functions of authorship produced by the Government.

How would the planet be distinctive if we did the very same with patentable inventions?

— Dennis Crouch (@patentlyo) March 6, 2022

Info available listed here: Dennis Crouch, Replication Data for: U.S. Government Assets Interests in Patent Legal rights, Harvard Dataverse (March 6, 2022),  https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/8CXI6Y.