GAO Results in Brief United States General Accounting Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division B-242438 April 3, 1991 The Honorable Joseph R. Biden The Honorable Jack Brooks Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives The Honorable George E. Brown, Jr. and Technology House of Representatives The Patent and Trademark Amendments of 1980 (P.L. 96-517) require us to report annually on federal agencies' implementation of section 6 of the act, which amended the law to promote the use of federally funded inventions. This report provides information on agencies' implementation of provisions that enable them to grant licenses to make, use, or sell government-owned inventions. As agreed with your offices, we are providing (1) patenting and licensing data for fiscal years 1981 through 1990 for 12 federal agencies and 16 of the Department of Energy's contractor-operated laboratories and (2) federal patent attorneys' and licensing officials' perceptions of possible ways to facilitate their agencies' patent licensing efforts. The 12 federal agencies we surveyed funded about $16.2 billion of the estimated $16.7 billion obligated for research and development at government laboratories in fiscal year 1990 and are the principal patenting and licensing agencies. On an annual average between fiscal years 1987 and 1990, the 12 federal agencies and 16 contractor-operated laboratories filed 1,578 patent applications, were issued 979 patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and granted 164 licenses. In comparison, on an annual average between fiscal years 1981 and 1986, these agencies and laboratories filed 1,559 patent applications, were issued 1,193 patents, and granted 130 licenses. The agencies and laboratories increased the percentage of licenses requiring royalty payments from less than 50 percent of the licenses granted in the early 1980s to 95 percent of the licenses granted in fiscal year 1990. A royalty-bearing license generally indicates a significant commitment by the licensee to invest in commercializing a licensed invention. The federal patent attorneys and licensing officials interviewed said Background The Patent and Trademark Amendments of 1980 were among the first The Department of Commerce's governmentwide regulations for licensing government-owned inventions require that, before granting an exclusive license, federal agencies (1) obtain an applicant's plans for 1Under an exclusive license, only one licensee has the right to make, use, or sell an invention during the patent's 17-year life. Under a partially exclusive license, the number of licensees, term of exclusivity, field of use, or territory of use may be restricted. |