Guidelines for Licensing

Summary of pertinent laws and regulations for licensing and royalty distribution

• As directed in Public Law 99-502, Section 14, when royalties are received pursuant to the commercial licensing of inventions conceived by inventors in Federal laboratories,
  
  

  "the head of the agency or his designee shall pay at least 15% of the royalties or other income the agency receives on account of any invention to the inventor (or co-inventors) if the inventor (or each such co-inventor) was an employee of the agency at the time the invention was made."
  
  

• The General Counsel makes the determination of who owns the title to an invention: the government or the employee. The key to this determination is whether there was evidence of contribution by the government. Contribution can take the form of funds, time, services of other employees on duty, equipment, facilities, information, materials, or supplies.
  
  
• The General Counsel can make a determination that all rights belong to the government, all rights belong to the employee, or that the employee holds the rights to commercialization and the government to a license, depending on the facts.
  
  
• The government-retained license is nonexclusive, irrevocable, and royalty-free, with the power to grant licenses for all government purposes.

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Investigator

Transfer Officer

Center Director