Pub.L. 104-114 To seek international sanctions against the Castro government in Cuba, to plan for support of a transition government leading to a democratically elected government in Cuba, and for other purposes. <> %%Fil...

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[[Page 110 STAT. 775]]

Public Law 104-113
104th Congress

                                 An Act


 
  To amend the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 with 
 respect to inventions made under cooperative research and development 
   agreements, and for other purposes. <<NOTE: Mar. 7, 1996 -  [H.R. 
                                2196]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: National 
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995.>> 

SECTION 1. <<NOTE: 15 USC 3701 note.>> SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Technology Transfer and 
Advancement Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. <<NOTE: 15 USC 3701 note.>>  FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Bringing technology and industrial innovation to the 
        marketplace is central to the economic, environmental, and 
        social well-being of the people of the United States.
            (2) The Federal Government can help United States business 
        to speed the development of new products and processes by 
        entering into cooperative research and development agreements 
        which make available the assistance of Federal laboratories to 
        the private sector, but the commercialization of technology and 
        industrial innovation in the United States depends upon actions 
        by business.
            (3) The commercialization of technology and industrial 
        innovation in the United States will be enhanced if companies, 
        in return for reasonable compensation to the Federal Government, 
        can more easily obtain exclusive licenses to inventions which 
        develop as a result of cooperative research with scientists 
        employed by Federal laboratories.

SEC. 3. USE OF FEDERAL TECHNOLOGY.

    Subparagraph (B) of section 11(e)(7) of the Stevenson-Wydler 
Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710(e)(7)(B)) is amended 
to read as follows:
    ``(B) A transfer shall be made by any Federal agency under 
subparagraph (A), for any fiscal year, only if the amount so transferred 
by that agency (as determined under such subparagraph) would exceed 
$10,000.''.

SEC. 4. TITLE TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ARISING FROM COOPERATIVE RESEARCH 
            AND DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS.

    Subsection (b) of section 12 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology 
Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a(b)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(b) Enumerated Authority.--(1) Under an agreement entered into 
pursuant to subsection (a)(1), the laboratory may grant, or

[[Page 110 STAT. 776]]

agree to grant in advance, to a collaborating party patent licenses or 
assignments, or options thereto, in any invention made in whole or in 
part by a laboratory employee under the agreement, for reasonable 
compensation when appropriate. The laboratory shall ensure, through such 
agreement, that the collaborating party has the option to choose an 
exclusive license for a pre-negotiated field of use for any such 
invention under the agreement or, if there is more than one 
collaborating party, that the collaborating parties are offered the 
option to hold licensing rights that collectively encompass the rights 
that would be held under such an exclusive license by one party. In 
consideration for the Government's contribution under the agreement, 
grants under this paragraph shall be subject to the following explicit 
conditions:
            ``(A) A nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up 
        license from the collaborating party to the laboratory to 
        practice the invention or have the invention practiced 
        throughout the world by or on behalf of the 
        Government. <<NOTE: Confidential information.>>  In the exercise 
        of such license, the Government shall not publicly disclose 
        trade secrets or commercial or financial information that is 
        privileged or confidential within the meaning of section 
        552(b)(4) of title 5, United States Code, or which would be 
        considered as such if it had been obtained from a non-Federal 
        party.
            ``(B) If a laboratory assigns title or grants an exclusive 
        license to such an invention, the Government shall retain the 
        right--
                    ``(i) to require the collaborating party to grant to 
                a responsible applicant a nonexclusive, partially 
                exclusive, or exclusive license to use the invention in 
                the applicant's licensed field of use, on terms that are 
                reasonable under the circumstances; or
                    ``(ii) if the collaborating party fails to grant 
                such a license, to grant the license itself.
            ``(C) The Government may exercise its right retained under 
        subparagraph (B) only in exceptional circumstances and only if 
        the Government determines that--
                    ``(i) the action is necessary to meet health or 
                safety needs that are not reasonably satisfied by the 
                collaborating party;
                    ``(ii) the action is necessary to meet requirements 
                for public use specified by Federal regulations, and 
                such requirements are not reasonably satisfied by the 
                collaborating party; or
                    ``(iii) the collaborating party has failed to comply 
                with an agreement containing provisions described in 
                subsection (c)(4)(B).
        This determination is subject to administrative appeal and 
        judicial review under section 203(2) of title 35, United States 
        Code.

    ``(2) Under agreements entered into pursuant to subsection (a)(1), 
the laboratory shall ensure that a collaborating party may retain title 
to any invention made solely by its employee in exchange for normally 
granting the Government a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, 
paid-up license to practice the invention or have the invention 
practiced throughout the world by or on behalf of the Government for 
research or other Government purposes.

[[Page 110 STAT. 777]]

    ``(3) Under an agreement entered into pursuant to subsection (a)(1), 
a laboratory may--
            ``(A) accept, retain, and use funds, personnel, services, 
        and property from a collaborating party and provide personnel, 
        services, and property to a collaborating party;
            ``(B) use funds received from a collaborating party in 
        accordance with subparagraph (A) to hire personnel to carry out 
        the agreement who will not be subject to full-time-equivalent 
        restrictions of the agency;
            ``(C) to the extent consistent with any applicable agency 
        requirements or standards of conduct, permit an employee or 
        former employee of the laboratory to participate in an effort to 
        commercialize an invention made by the employee or former 
        employee while in the employment or service of the Government; 
        and
            ``(D) waive, subject to reservation by the Government of a 
        nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice the 
        invention or have the invention practiced throughout the world 
        by or on behalf of the Government, in advance, in whole or in 
        part, any right of ownership which the Federal Government may 
        have to any subject invention made under the agreement by a 
        collaborating party or employee of a collaborating party.

    ``(4) A collaborating party in an exclusive license in any invention 
made under an agreement entered into pursuant to subsection (a)(1) shall 
have the right of enforcement under chapter 29 of title 35, United 
States Code.
    ``(5) A Government-owned, contractor-operated laboratory that enters 
into a cooperative research and development agreement pursuant to 
subsection (a)(1) may use or obligate royalties or other income accruing 
to the laboratory under such agreement with respect to any invention 
only--
            ``(A) for payments to inventors;
            ``(B) for purposes described in clauses (i), (ii), (iii), 
        and (iv) of section 14(a)(1)(B); and
            ``(C) for scientific research and development consistent 
        with the research and development missions and objectives of the 
        laboratory.''.

SEC. 5 <<NOTE: Royalties.>> . DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME FROM INTELLECTUAL 
            PROPERTY RECEIVED BY FEDERAL LABORATORIES.

    Section 14 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 
(15 U.S.C. 3710c) is amended--
            (1) by amending subsection (a)(1) to read as follows:

``(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (4), any royalties or 
other payments received by a Federal agency from the licensing and 
assignment of inventions under agreements entered into by Federal 
laboratories under section 12, and from the licensing of inventions of 
Federal laboratories under section 207 of title 35, United States Code, 
or under any other provision of law, shall be retained by the laboratory 
which produced the invention and shall be disposed of as follows:
            ``(A)(i) The head of the agency or laboratory, or such 
        individual's designee, shall pay each year the first $2,000, and 
        thereafter at least 15 percent, of the royalties or other 
        payments to the inventor or coinventors.
            ``(ii) An agency or laboratory may provide appropriate 
        incentives, from royalties, or other payments, to laboratory

[[Page 110 STAT. 778]]

        employees who are not an inventor of such inventions but who 
        substantially increased the technical value of such inventions.
            ``(iii) The agency or laboratory shall retain the royalties 
        and other payments received from an invention until the agency 
        or laboratory makes payments to employees of a laboratory under 
        clause (i) or (ii).
            ``(B) The balance of the royalties or other payments shall 
        be transferred by the agency to its laboratories, with the 
        majority share of the royalties or other payments from any 
        invention going to the laboratory where the invention occurred. 
        The royalties or other payments so transferred to any laboratory 
        may be used or obligated by that laboratory during the fiscal 
        year in which they are received or during the succeeding fiscal 
        year--
                    ``(i) to reward scientific, engineering, and 
                technical employees of the laboratory, including 
                developers of sensitive or classified technology, 
                regardless of whether the technology has commercial 
                applications;
                    ``(ii) to further scientific exchange among the 
                laboratories of the agency;
                    ``(iii) for education and training of employees 
                consistent with the research and development missions 
                and objectives of the agency or laboratory, and for 
                other activities that increase the potential for 
                transfer of the technology of the laboratories of the 
                agency;
                    ``(iv) for payment of expenses incidental to the 
                administration and licensing of intellectual property by 
                the agency or laboratory with respect to inventions made 
                at that laboratory, including the fees or other costs 
                for the services of other agencies, persons, or 
                organizations for intellectual property management and 
                licensing services; or
                    ``(v) for scientific research and development 
                consistent with the research and development missions 
                and objectives of the laboratory.
            ``(C) All royalties or other payments retained by the agency 
        or laboratory after payments have been made pursuant to 
        subparagraphs (A) and (B) that is unobligated and unexpended at 
        the end of the second fiscal year succeeding the fiscal year in 
        which the royalties and other payments were received shall be 
        paid into the Treasury.'';
            (2) in subsection (a)(2)--
                    (A) by inserting ``or other payments'' after 
                ``royalties''; and
                    (B) by striking ``for the purposes described in 
                clauses (i) through (iv) of paragraph (1)(B) during that 
                fiscal year or the succeeding fiscal year'' and 
                inserting in lieu thereof ``under paragraph (1)(B)'';
            (3) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ``$100,000'' both 
        places it appears and inserting ``$150,000'';
            (4) in subsection (a)(4)--
                    (A) by striking ``income'' each place it appears and 
                inserting in lieu thereof ``payments'';
                    (B) by striking ``the payment of royalties to 
                inventors'' in the first sentence thereof and inserting 
                in lieu thereof ``payments to inventors'';

[[Page 110 STAT. 779]]

                    (C) by striking ``clause (i) of paragraph (1)(B)'' 
                and inserting in lieu thereof ``clause (iv) of paragraph 
                (1)(B)'';
                    (D) by striking ``payment of the royalties,'' in the 
                second sentence thereof and inserting in lieu thereof 
                ``offsetting the payments to inventors,''; and
                    (E) by striking ``clauses (i) through (iv) of''; and
            (5) by amending paragraph (1) of subsection (b) to read as 
        follows:
            ``(1) by a contractor, grantee, or participant, or an 
        employee of a contractor, grantee, or participant, in an 
        agreement or other arrangement with the agency, or''.

SEC. 6. EMPLOYEE ACTIVITIES.

    Section 15(a) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 
1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710d(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``the right of ownership to an invention 
        under this Act'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``ownership of or 
        the right of ownership to an invention made by a Federal 
        employee''; and
            (2) by inserting ``obtain or'' after ``the Government, to''.

SEC. 7. AMENDMENT TO BAYH-DOLE ACT.

    Section 210(e) of title 35, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``, as amended by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 
1986,''.

SEC. 8. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY ACT AMENDMENTS.

    The National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 
271 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) <<NOTE: 15 USC 278.>>  in section 10(a)--
                    (A) by striking ``nine'' and inserting in lieu 
                thereof ``15''; and
                    (B) by striking ``five'' and inserting in lieu 
                thereof ``10'';
            (2) <<NOTE: 15 USC 278e.>>  in section 15--
                    (A) by striking ``Pay Act of 1945; and'' and 
                inserting in lieu thereof ``Pay Act of 1945;''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``; and (h) the provision of 
                transportation services for employees of the Institute 
                between the facilities of the Institute and nearby 
                public transportation, notwithstanding section 1344 of 
                title 31, United States Code'' after ``interests of the 
                Government''; and
            (3) <<NOTE: 15 USC 278g-2.>>  in section 19--

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