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In sum, in the context of the Space Station, a wide range of
possible cooperative research activities might occur involving
federal employees and employees of other organizations. For
example, cooperative agreements might cover research aboard the
Space Station between federal employees and employees of a U.S.
corporation, university or other domestic organization, or research
conducted only by employees of a domestic organization, where the
facilities and/or equipment were provided by the U.S. government.
By entering into a cooperative agreement under the, Act, the U.S.
government could assure that any resulting technology would be
licensed or owned by a U.S. corporation. The U. S. government
could agree to grant a royalty-bearing license, or ownership, for
any inventions made by a federal employee under section 11(b) (2)
or (3). This, would permit the U. S. organization to take commercial
advantage of any patents resulting from inventions made in the
course of the research aboard the Space Station. In this way, the
benefits of the research would go to the U.S. economy. At the
same time, 'the Space Station would be the recipient of royalties
earned by the licenses pursuant to section 13 of the Act.
The Act provides special rules for those circumstances in which a
federal laboratory might agree to a cooperative research and and
development venture with a foreign firm or firms, where employees
of those firms would conduct joint research'with federal employees
aboard the Space Station. The Act, in section 11(c) (4) (B),
permits cooperative agreements with foreign firms, but requires
that the laboratories "give preference to business units located
in the United States which agree that products embodying inventions
made under the cooperative research and development agreement...
will be manufactured in the United States". Further, the Act
requires that the laboratory director, before entering into an
agreement "in the case of any industrial organization or other
person subject to the control of a foreign company or government,
as appropriate, take into consideration whether or not such
foreign government permits United States agencies, organizations,
or other persons to enter into cooperative research and development
agreements and licensing agreements". Should the Space Station
decide to enter into cooperative research agreements with a
foreign corporation it should assure that any patent rights
clause in the agreement provide maximum rights of commercialization
to U.S. firms.
Technical Data
For your information the latest draft of the proposed Executive
Order on technology transfer requires agencies to delegate to its
Federal laboratories the right to negotiate in cooperative
agreements the disposition of intellectual property. As
intellectual property includes technical data, the Space Station
as a Federal laboratory could enter into a cooperative agreement
leaving ownership or an exclusive license to technical data with
anon-Federal entity.
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