Special licensing determinations under Cooperative Agreements

• When an invention results from the work of an employee or employees of a company under the terms of an already-executed Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, the government waives its rights to ownership, and the company agrees to grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice the invention for government purposes throughout the world.
  
  
• When the work results from a government employee or jointly, the government has the initial option to retain its rights to title.
  
  
• The party having the right to title may elect not to file for patent (within 90 days), thus enabling the alternate party to file. In such case, the party relinquishing title retains a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up license.
  
  
• The terms of the Cooperative R & D Agreement often include provision for the laboratory to grant an exclusive license to the manufacturer. Note that at least 15% of any royalties received by the government that accrue as a result of this licensing arrangement are to be distributed to the appropriate VA employee-inventor(s).

Investigator

Transfer Officer

Center Director