Government Contracting
Research and development under government contracts provide a host of opportunities for businesses that know how to take advantage of them. Notably, patent rights are often the result of contracts with the government for new technology or the application of existing technology to a governmental need. If the contract has a patent rights clause, the contractor must take care not to lose its patent rights. Johnson Legal can help you protect and maintain ownership of the technology resulting from your work under a government contract.
Your Rights Under the Bayh-Dole Act
Prior to 1980, the government usually received title to all inventions that were discovered during performance of a government contract. Congress ultimately realized that contractors wanted to retain those rights so they could commercialize their inventions in the civilian marketplace. Johnson Legal uses the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 and the subsequent 1983 Presidential Memorandum to help contractors retain title to their inventions subject to a license back to the government. If you are thinking of working as a contractor or substractor on a government contract and have any questions about your right to inventions that may be discovered, you should call Johnson Legal.
If you have not yet started working on the contract but have inventions that are not the subject of a pending patent application, call Johnson Legal for a free consultation.
Lance G. Johnson
The George Washington University Law School, J.D., 1987
Iowa State University, B.S. in Chemical Engineering, 1982