927.302-70 Additional policy.

(a) In this section and 927.303, background patent means a U.S. patent covering an invention or discovery that is not a subject invention (as defined at 35 U.S.C. 201(e)) and that is owned or controlled by the Contractor at any time through the completion of the contract:

(1) Which the Contractor, but not the Government, has the right to license to others without obligation to pay royalties thereon; and

(2) Infringement of which cannot reasonably be avoided upon the practice of any specific process, method, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter (including relatively minor modifications thereof) which is a subject of the research, development, or demonstration work performed under this contract.

(b) Except for contracts with organizations that are beneficiaries of Public Law 96-517, the United States, as represented by DOE, shall normally acquire title in and to any invention or discovery conceived or first actually reduced to practice in the course of or under the contract, allowing the contractor to retain a nonexclusive, revocable, paid-up license in the invention and the right to request permission to file an application for a patent and retain title to any ensuing patent in any foreign country in which DOE does not elect to secure patent rights. DOE may approve the request if it determines that such approval would be in the national interest. The contractor's nonexclusive license may be revoked or modified by DOE only to the extent necessary to achieve expeditious practical application of the invention pursuant to any application for and the grant of an exclusive license in the invention to another party.

(c) Normally, contracts will not include background patent and background data provisions. Under special circumstances, however, to provide heightened assurance of commercialization, a provision providing for a right to require licensing to third parties of background inventions, limited rights data or restricted computer software may be included (see 927.303(d)(5)). Inclusion of such a provision will be done only with the written concurrence of the DOE program official setting forth the need for such assurance. A contract may include the right to license the Government and third-party contractors for special Government purposes when future availability of the technology would also benefit the Government. The scope of any such background patent or data licensing is subject to negotiation.

(d) The Assistant General Counsel for Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property shall:

(1) Determine whether reported inventions are subject inventions under the patent rights clause of the contract;

(2) Determine whether and where patent protection will be obtained on inventions;

(3) Represent DOE before domestic and foreign patent offices;

(4) Accept assignments and instruments confirmatory of the Government's rights to inventions; and

(5) Represent DOE in patent, trademark, technical data, copyright, and other intellectual property matters not specifically reserved to the Head of the Agency or designee under this part.