Federal Government Contractors and Grantees Should Take Steps To Protect Their Patent Rights After the U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Stanford v. Roche
The Supreme Court's new Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., et al., 563 U.S. ___ (2011) decision has significant implications for federally-funded inventions and any patents that may result. As Christopher Rissetto, Louis DePaul, and Stephanie Giese explain in this new alert, each federal government contractor and grantee should take the following steps:
- Establish agreements with employees that require each employee to make present assignments to the contractor or grantee for inventions made during his or her employment.
- Establish agreements with third parties, including consultants, that protect each party’s rights in inventions developed during collaborative efforts consistent with the terms of the government contract.
- Recognize that, as a federal contractor or grantee, it may be in breach of its federal contract or grant if it fails to obtain: (1) an assignment (preferably a present assignment) of a federally funded invention from an employee; or (2) an agreement on rights in a federally funded invention from a third-party collaborating organization or consultant.
- Recognize that the federal government may propose new rulemaking in connection with patent rights that may include regulations that require contractors to obtain (and perhaps certify that they have obtained) the assignments from employees, as well as agreements with collaborating organizations and consultants discussed above.
- Understand that patent rights are not implemented in federal contracts and grants uniformly across the federal agencies and, as such, a federal government contractor or grantee should carefully review its rights and responsibilities under the patent rights clauses in each of its contracts or grants.
- Recognize that under certain circumstances, a federal contractor or grantee should negotiate patent rights with the federal government.
- Recognize that, pursuant to the definition of “subject invention” in a federal government grant or contract, the federal government may obtain rights in inventions conceived at private expense, but first reduced to practice using federal funding, or alternatively, conceived using federal funding, but first reduced to practice at private expense.
- Recognize that, as a federal government contractor or grantee, it may need to review the federal government contract or grant, as well as agreements made in connection with the contract or grant, to determine rights to a federally funded invention.
- Recognize that, to determine rights to a federally funded invention, third parties acquiring patent rights from a federal government contractor or grantee may need to review the federal government contract or grant, as well as agreements made in connection with the contract or grant.
- While not specifically addressed by the Supreme Court, recognize that the precedent set in the Stanford v. Roche decision is likely to apply to large, for-profit companies, as well as to small businesses and nonprofit organizations that are performing federal government contracts or grants. See Exec. Order No. 12,591, para. 1(b)(4), 52 Fed. Reg. 13,414 (Apr. 10, 1987) (citingPresident’s Memorandum to the Heads of the Executive Departments and Agencies, Government Patent Policy (Feb. 18, 1983)).
Please contact one of the authors for more information regarding intellectual property rights under federal government contracts and grants.
