MPEP Section 2309, National Aeronautics and Space Administration or Department of Energy

Executive summary:

This document contains Section 2309 ("National Aeronautics and Space Administration or Department of Energy") of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (the "M.P.E.P."), Eighth Edition, Eighth Revision (July 2010). This page was last updated in January 2011. You may return to the section index to find a particular section. Alternatively, you may search the MPEP using the search box that appears on the left side of every page of BitLaw--you may restrict your search to the MPEP on the search results page.

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2309 National Aeronautics and Space Administration or Department of Energy [R-4]

Ownership of an invention made pursuant to a U.S. government contract may be vested in the contracting government agency. The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (Board) determines two such ownership contests using interference procedures: for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 42 U.S.C. 2457 (inventions having significant utility in aeronautical or space activity), and for the Department of Energy (DoE), 42 U.S.C. 2182 (inventions relating to special nuclear material or atomic energy).

An applicant with an application covered by these Acts must file a statement regarding the making or conception of the invention and any relation to a contract with NASA or DoE. See MPEP § 150 and § 151. The examiner should work in coordination with Licensing and Review and one of the Technology Centers Interference Practice Specialists in suggesting these cases to the Board. Although these cases are not interferences, the interference practices in this chapter generally apply to NASA and DoE ownership contests as well.<