Patent Rights Under Government Contracts

The Government utilizes the contract process to purchase a wide variety of goods and services. These include existing commercial products and services, the design, development, and manufacture of goods and related services necessary to meet specific Government needs. Additionally, the government provides financial assistance through grants and cooperative agreements to support research and development by private and public entities, and conducts and collaborates in research and development activites with private sponsors at Government facilities. Through this large expenditure of funds, there is substantial contact with intellectual property. This material principally deals with the relationship between intellectual property concepts of patent, trade secrets, and copyrights and the Government's procurement and financial assistance processes. The subject of trademarks is not covered.