Government-Funded Inventions And iEdison

Key Takeaway

Inventions conceived or reduced to practice during the performance of work funded by the U.S. federal government are subject to various obligations under the Bayh-Dole Act. Fulfilling these obligations is important to maintaining ownership of such inventions and complying with the terms of government contracts.

Introduction

The Bayh-Dole Act (35 U.S.C. §§ 200–212) and its implementing regulations (37 C.F.R. Part 401) allow contractors — including grant recipients — to retain title to inventions developed with federal funding, but only if they comply with a series of disclosure, election, filing, and reporting obligations.  

The key obligations are summarized below. Understanding the scope of the government rights and proactively complying with reporting obligations may be particularly important as access to funding decreases, political scrutiny on grant recipients increases, and other government priorities shift.