(a) Allocation of Principal Rights: Bayh-Dole provisions. If the management and operating contractor is an educational institution or nonprofit organization, the patent rights clause provided at 970.5227-10 must be inserted into the M&O contract. Such entities are beneficiaries of Bayh-Dole Act, including the paramount right of the contractor to elect to retain title to inventions conceived or first actually reduced to practice in performance of work under the contract, except in DOE-exempted areas of technology or in operation of DOE facilities primarily dedicated to naval nuclear propulsion or weapons related programs.
(b) Allocation of Principal Rights: Government title. (1) The patent rights clause provided at 970.5227-11 must be incorporated into the M&O contract if the contractor is a for-profit, large business firm and the contract does not have a technology transfer mission or if, without regard to the type of contractor, the contract is for the operation of a DOE facility primarily dedicated to naval nuclear propulsion or weapons related programs. That clause provides for DOE's statutory obligation to take title to inventions conceived or first actually reduced to practice in the course of or under an M&O contract, and does not contemplate an advance class waiver of Government rights in inventions, or participation by the contractor in technology transfer activities.
(2) While only in rare circumstances does a for-profit large business contractor whose contract contains no technology transfer mission receive rights in or title to inventions made under the contract, the contractor does have the right to request a license or foreign patent rights in inventions made under the contract, and may petition for a waiver of Government rights in identified inventions. The patent rights clause 970.5227-11 does not include many of the provisions of patent rights clauses 970.5227-10 and 970.5227-12, related to the filing of patent applications by the contractor, the granting of rights in inventions by the contractor to third parties (preference for United States industry), and conditions allowing the Government to grant licenses to third parties in inventions retained by the contractor (march-in rights). Any instrument granting rights in inventions made under a contract governed by patent rights clause 970.5227-11 must include these additional provisions within its terms and conditions.
(c) Allocation of Principal Rights: Contractor right to elect title under an advance class waiver. If the M&O contractor is a for-profit, large business firm and the Government has granted an advance class waiver of Government rights in inventions made in the course of or under the M&O contract, under the authority of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2182) and the Federal Nonnuclear Energy Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5908(c)), the patent rights clause provided at 970.5227-12 must be inserted into the M&O contract, unless the terms and conditions of such an approved waiver alter or replace the patent rights clause provisions pursuant to 10 CFR part 784.
(d) Extensions of time-DOE discretion. The patent rights clauses for M&O contracts require the contractor to take certain actions within prescribed time periods to comply with the contract and preserve its rights in inventions. The M&O contractor may request extensions of time in which to take such actions by submitting written justification to DOE, and DOE may grant the contractor's requests, on a case-by-case basis. If the time period expired due to negligence by the contractor, DOE may grant a request for an extension of time upon a showing by the contractor that corrective procedures are in place to avoid such negligence in the future. If a contractor is requesting an extension of time in which to elect to retain title to an invention, DOE may grant the request if the extension allows the contractor to conduct further experimentation, market research, or other analysis helpful to determine contractor interest in electing title to the invention, among other considerations. Generally, the extensions of time are for periods of between six (6) months to one (1) year.
(e) Facilities license. These include the rights to make, use, transfer, or otherwise dispose of all articles, materials, products, or processes embodying inventions or discoveries used or embodied in the facility regardless of whether or not conceived or first actually reduced to practice under or in the course of such a contract. The patent rights clauses, 970.5227-10, 970.5227-11, 970.5227-12, each contain a provision granting the Government this facilities license.
(f) Deletion of classified inventions provision. If DOE determines that the research, development, demonstration or production work to be performed during the course of a management and operating contract most probably will not involve classified subject matter or result in any inventions that require security classification, DOE patent counsel may advise the contracting officer to delete the patent rights clause provision entitled, "Classified Inventions" from the M&O contract.
(g) Alternate 1-Weapons Related Research or Production. If DOE grants technology transfer authority to a DOE facility, pursuant to Public Law 101-189, section 3133(d), and the DOE owned facility is involved in weapons related research and development, or production, then Alternate 1 of the patent rights clauses must be inserted into the M&O contract. Alternate 1 defines weapons related subject inventions and restricts the contractor's rights with respect to such inventions.
