EconDefense
ACQ-28 / Intellectual property and technology transfer

License federally owned inventions to commercialize technology

Obtain/protect federal patents and grant nonexclusive, exclusive or partially exclusive licenses, royalty-free or for consideration, while retaining government-use rights.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-28 · Licensing & IP
Legal basis35 U.S.C. §207

Authority holder: Federal agency holding invention rights; authorized agency/laboratory licensing officials

Licensing & IP

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Express statutory pathway; award-specific appropriations, available balances, delegations, implementation and approvals not independently verified.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Exclusive scope must be reasonably necessary for commercialization, support public interest and avoid anticompetitive effects.
  • Development/marketing plan; ordinarily substantial U.S. manufacturing; small-business preference if equally capable.

Limits & exclusions

  • Government retains paid-up license and termination protections.
  • Exclusive/partially exclusive license ordinarily requires 15-day public notice; CRADA invention exception applies.

Funding conditions

  • License royalties/consideration per agreement; retention/distribution requires separate applicable authority such as 15 U.S.C. §3710c.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • Laboratory scientific lead and Office of Research and Technology Applications

Resources

  • Laboratory director and sponsoring component budget owner

Approval

  • Laboratory director and agency approver as statute/delegation requires

Execution

  • Laboratory ORTA, counsel and authorized agreement official

Partners & review

  • Industry, universities, nonprofit and government collaborators within eligibility limits

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

ORTA identifies invention → IP counsel confirms government rights → commercialization and competition review → authorized licensing official.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

  • 35 U.S.C. §207Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 35 U.S.C. §209Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.

What this research establishes

Legal powerSource and conditions recorded
EligibilityProject-specific check needed
Available fundsBalances not verified
DelegationValid signature authority must be checked
ExecutionOffice capacity and approvals must be checked

Confidence: High on express authority and cited conditions; execution assignment is illustrative unless statute expressly names it.

Currentness: GovInfo 2024 Code (includes FY2025 NDAA, P.L. 118-159) read in full for cited provision; targeted FY2026 NDAA P.L. 119-60 amendment/repeal sweep. No claim of complete legislative currency through 2026-10-02; remaining 2026 delta needs counsel validation.

Research target: October 2, 2026. A record-specific last-review date is not supplied. Publication date is not legal-currentness certification.

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