The Federal Council's Patent Advisory Panel is presently considering recommendations for a licensing program which encompasses both nonexclusive and exclusive licensing to promote commercial use of an agency's research results. The Harbridge House findings indicate that both of these licensing approaches should be available for use to provide an agency with the flexibility needed to stimulate commercial utilization under the variety of circumstances encountered. Part IV Conclusions and Recommendations A. Conclusions The Committee on Government Patent Policy has concluded that rights to inventions made under government contracts should be allocated in accordance with a flexible, government-wide policy which follows the basic principles and criteria of the October 1963 Presidential Policy Statement, as this Policy Statement is believed to provide the best overall balance of the interests of the public. The Presidential Policy was developed as a result of careful interagency study, and was based on the actual operating experiences of the federal departments and agencies over many years. In addition, the Federal Council has found, based on several years of operating experience, that the Presidential Policy has been effective in bringing about a greater degree of consistency in the patent policies and practices of the federal departments and agencies, and has provided a greater degree of protection of the public interest. interest. This conclusion is also generally supported by the finding of the Harbridge House study, which may be summarized as follows: (1) The Harbridge House study results conclusively demonstrate that a single presumption of ownership of patents is not in the public interest, applied either government-wide, to a single agency, or to a particular government program. (2) The Harbridge House study results identify factors which, when properly considered, can affect commercial utilization of government-sponsored inventions, participation of industry in government R&D programs, and competition in commercial markets. The most critical factors are: -the mission of the research sponsoring agency: -the purpose and nature of the contract; -the commercial applicability of and market -the extent to which the invention was developed -the promotional activities of the sponsoring -the prior commercial experience of the contractor in the field of the invention; -the size of the contractor's privately financed -the contractor's attitude towards and capability to commercially promote the invention; and -the size, nature and research orientation of the industry that will be using the invention commercially. (3) The Harbridge House study results and the operating experience of the government agencies indicates that the principles underlying the Presidential Policy, and, with minor exceptions, the criteria established by the Policy for allocating patent rights takes into consideration the above listed factors in a manner which: -properly balances the Policy objectives of encouraging utilization of inventions, participation by industry, and commercial competition in the overall public interest; -provides the operational flexibility needed by the agencies to accomplish the objectives of their missions under differing contractual situations; and -within the differing mission constraints of the federal agencies, promotes consistent application of patent policies and practices in similar contracting situation. In view of the conclusions set forth above, the Committee on Government Patent Policy recommends the continuation of a flexible, government-wide patent policy following the basic principles and criteria of the October 1963 Presidential Policy Statement. More specifically, the Committee believes that such a policy should be continued either by making minor modifications to the Presidential Policy (which would be subject to present statutory requirements), or by proposing legislation based on similar principles and criteria which The Committee believes that the recommended changes to the Presidential Policy set forth in Appendix 4 should be adopted at this time. These amendments are based on the results of the Harbridge House study and on the actual operating experience of the agencies under the Presidential Policy. However, the Committee recognizes that legislation would be necessary to achieve greater consistency in patent policy throughout the Government. Although the Committee has not formally considered proposed legislation, a working group of the Committee has made considerable progress in developing language for a proposed bill covering this policy issue. legislation is to be proposed, the Committee believes that the results of this effort could be used as a basis for developing an Administration recommendation for legislation. If 19 19 The results of this work is on file with the Committee, and draws heavily upon the proposed solutions of Senator McClellan's S. 1809 (Amended), reported by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary during the 89th Congress, and of Congressman Daddario's H.R. 458, introduced in the 90th Congress. |