Collapse to view only § 2183. Nonmilitary utilization
- § 2181. Inventions relating to atomic weapons, and filing of reports
- § 2182. Inventions conceived during Commission contracts; ownership; waiver; hearings
- § 2183. Nonmilitary utilization
- § 2184. Injunctions; measure of damages
- § 2185. Prior art
- § 2186. Commission patent licenses
- § 2187. Compensation, awards, and royalties
- § 2188. Monopolistic use of patents
- § 2189. Federally financed research
- § 2190. Saving clause for prior patent applications
Any invention or discovery, useful in the production or utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy, made or conceived in the course of or under any contract, subcontract, or arrangement entered into with or for the benefit of the Commission, regardless of whether the contract, subcontract, or arrangement involved the expenditure of funds by the Commission, shall be vested in, and be the property of, the Commission, except that the Commission may waive its claim to any such invention or discovery under such circumstances as the Commission may deem appropriate, consistent with the policy of this section. No patent for any invention or discovery, useful in the production or utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy, shall be issued unless the applicant files with the application, or within thirty days after request therefor by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (unless the Commission advises the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office that its rights have been determined and that accordingly no statement is necessary) a statement under oath setting forth the full facts surrounding the making or conception of the invention or discovery described in the application and whether the invention or discovery was made or conceived in the course of or under any contract, subcontract, or arrangement entered into with or for the benefit of the Commission, regardless of whether the contract, subcontract, or arrangement involved the expenditure of funds by the Commission. The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office shall as soon as the application is otherwise in condition for allowance forward copies of the application and the statement to the Commission.
The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office may proceed with the application and issue the patent to the applicant (if the invention or discovery is otherwise patentable) unless the Commission, within 90 days after receipt of copies of the application and statement, directs the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to issue the patent to the Commission (if the invention or discovery is otherwise patentable) to be held by the Commission as the agent of and on behalf of the United States.
If the Commission files such a direction with the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and if the applicant’s statement claims, and the applicant still believes, that the invention or discovery was not made or conceived in the course of or under any contract, subcontract or arrangement entered into with or for the benefit of the Commission entitling the Commission to the title to the application or the patent the applicant may, within 30 days after notification of the filing of such a direction, request a hearing before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The Board shall have the power to hear and determine whether the Commission was entitled to the direction filed with the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The Board shall follow the rules and procedures established for interference and derivation cases and an appeal may be taken by either the applicant or the Commission from the final order of the Board to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in accordance with the procedures governing the appeals from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
If the statement filed by the applicant should thereafter be found to contain false material statements any notification by the Commission that it has no objections to the issuance of a patent to the applicant shall not be deemed in any respect to constitute a waiver of the provisions of this section or of any applicable civil or criminal statute, and the Commission may have the title to the patent transferred to the Commission on the records of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in accordance with the provisions of this section. A determination of rights by the Commission pursuant to a contractual provision or other arrangement prior to the request of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the statement, shall be final in the absence of false material statements or nondisclosure of material facts by the applicant.
No court shall have jurisdiction or power to stay, restrain, or otherwise enjoin the use of any invention or discovery by a patent licensee, to the extent that such use is licensed by section 2183(b) or 2183(e) of this title. If, in any action against such patent licensee, the court shall determine that the defendant is exercising such license, the measure of damages shall be the royalty fee determined pursuant to section 2187(c) of this title, together with such costs, interest, and reasonable attorney’s fees as may be fixed by the court. If no royalty fee has been determined, the court shall stay the proceeding until the royalty fee is determined pursuant to section 2187(c) of this title. If any such patent licensee shall fail to pay such royalty fee, the patentee may bring an action in any court of competent jurisdiction for such royalty fee, together with such costs, interest, and reasonable attorney’s fees as may be fixed by the court.
In connection with applications for patents covered by this subchapter, the fact that the invention or discovery was known or used before shall be a bar to the patenting of such invention or discovery even though such prior knowledge or use was under secrecy within the atomic energy program of the United States.
The Commission shall establish standard specifications upon which it may grant a patent license to use any patent declared to be affected with the public interest pursuant to section 2183(a) of this title. Such a patent license shall not waive any of the other provisions of this chapter.
Whenever the owner of any patent hereafter granted for any invention or discovery of primary use in the utilization or production of special nuclear material or atomic energy is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to have intentionally used such patent in a manner so as to violate any of the antitrust laws specified in section 2135(a) of this title, there may be included in the judgment of the court, in its discretion and in addition to any other lawful sanctions, a requirement that such owner license such patent to any other licensee of the Commission who demonstrates a need therefor. If the court, at its discretion, deems that such licensee shall pay a reasonable royalty to the owner of the patent, the reasonable royalty shall be determined in accordance with section 2187 of this title.
Nothing in this chapter shall affect the right of the Commission to require that patents granted on inventions, made or conceived during the course of federally financed research or operations, be assigned to the United States.
Any patent application on which a patent was denied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office under sections 1811(a)(1), 1811(a)(2), or 1811(b) 1