USIJ Comments to NIST Proposed Rule, "Rights Federally Funded Inventions and Licensing of Government Owned Inventions.”

The Alliance of U.S. Startups and Inventors for Jobs (‘USIJ”)1 supports the National Institute of

Standards (“NIST”) proposed rule entitled “Rights to Federally Funded Inventions and Licensing of

Government Owned Inventions.” Preliminarily, we endorse fully AUTM’s position on the proposed rule

(http://bit.ly/AUTMNISTBD), including AUTM’s suggestion for removal of the words "exclusively" and

"of the contractor" from the current language so that the intent is not even marginally susceptible of

misinterpretation.

In general, the proposed rule addresses various revisions and clarifications to the University and Small

Business Patent Procedures Act of 1980, Public Law 96-517 (as amended), codified at 35 U.S.C. 200 et

seq., commonly known as the “Bayh-Dole Act.” Section 203 provides for “march in” rights in certain

specifically defined circumstances to allow a funding agency to intercede and require that owner of a

federally funded invention grant licenses or additional licenses to ensure that such inventions are actually

made available to the public and not licensed in a way that blocks that end result.