310 Government License Rights to Contractor-Owned Inventions Made Under Federally Sponsored Research and Development [R-10.2019]
Where a Government contractor retains U.S. domestic patent rights, the contractor is under an obligation by virtue of 35 U.S.C. 202(c)(6) to include the following statement at the beginning of the application and any patents issued thereon:
“This invention was made with government support under (identify the contract) awarded by (identify the Federal agency). The government has certain rights in the invention.”
If reference is made in the first sentence(s) of the specification following the title to related applications, the above “Government License Rights” statement should follow immediately as the second paragraph of the specification. If there is no such reference to related applications, the “Government License Rights” statement should appear as the first paragraph of the specification. See 37 CFR 1.77(b)(1)-(3).
Providing information concerning government support on a provisional application cover sheet does not satisfy the requirement of 35 U.S.C. 202(c)(6) which requires that the a statement be included within the specification of such application and any patent issuing thereon specifying that the invention was made with Government support and that the Government has certain rights in the invention.
