Author Archives: Gerald Barnett

Reagan’s Executive Order 12591-3

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

President Reagan’s Executive Order 12591 does one more odd thing. It makes the contractor’s title to patents conditioned on a government license. But this government license is not the one required by Bayh-Dole. Here’s Bayh-Dole (35 USC 202(c)(4)): With respect … Continue reading →

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Reagan’s Executive Order 12591-2

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

So far we have discussed President Reagan’s Executive Order 12591 mandating the promotion of commercialization (something not in Bayh-Dole) by having federal agencies grant title to patents (something else not in Bayh-Dole) to all contractors–not just to large companies that … Continue reading →

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Reagan’s Executive Order 12591-1

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

[Some slight elaborations here and there. 1/6/2020. Latker claims he wrote this EO. Makes sense, given the crappy (or clever–but still sloppy) drafting.] In 1987, President Reagan issued Executive Order 12591, which extended, sort of, the Bayh-Dole Act to all … Continue reading →

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Federal law on inventions made with federal support, 4

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

One cannot read “contractor” in Bayh-Dole and assume that “contractor” only refers to the initial or prime contractor. One must always look to the circumstances of a given contract to determine whether others have been made parties to the funding … Continue reading →

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Federal law on inventions made with federal support, 3

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

Now, let’s emphasize a few points. There are at least three ways that a contractor may come to own an invention made with federal support: inventors assign their inventions state law (in some cases, such as Ohio Rev Code 3345.14) … Continue reading →

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Federal law on inventions made with federal support, 2

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

Next, we add citations and qualifications to ground this framework. Specialty statutes for specific federal purposes control federal claims of ownership of inventions made under federal contract. See the list of such statutes at 35 USC 210. If a specialty statute … Continue reading →

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Federal law on inventions made with federal support

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

First, the brief version: Specialty statutes for specific federal purposes control federal claims of ownership of inventions made under federal contract. The Nixon patent policy as amended by Reagan’s executive order otherwise controls federal claims of ownership of inventions made under … Continue reading →

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Bush v Kilgore v the Old Order v Now

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

In 2005, Nicholas Steneck at the University of Michigan taught a course in the history of science–“Science, Technology and Society–1940 to the Present.” Here’s his lecture outline for the part about federally funded science and engineering during World War 2: … Continue reading →

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The new rule

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

I once created a game I called “Tradition.” I was trying to find games with simple rule sets. In Tradition, the only rule was you could make a rule or make a move. At the outset, then, the only move … Continue reading →

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Inventor freedom and the unexpected model of innovation, 1

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Gerald Barnett

Consider an alternative to the present university administrator mania for patenting. Let’s start with inventor freedom and then look once more at what I call Vannevar Bush’s unexpected model of innovation. There are difficulties in the effort. First, the social … Continue reading →

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