XVIII. Center policy on Center products and TT

The following Policy statements for the Rehabilitation R&D Center are based upon the change of environment concerning the commercialization of government technology. This change was brought about by enactment of the Technology Transfer Act of 1986, an amendment to the Stevenson-Wydler Act of 1980 [Appendix D].

1. There are two categories of products which are developed at the Rehabilitation R&D Center: (a) Products which must be manufactured and commercialized in order to reach the intended user (in the form of hardware or patentable software; and (b) Information in the form of unpatentable software or technical papers or publications, which are all in the public domain according to Federal Law, and can be distributed directly to the users by the Center itself.

2. Certain types of software are patentable, as discussed in Section XV.

3. In accordance with Federal Regulations [Appendix K], a Disclosure of Invention is to be filed with General Counsel on any product developed by Center personnel (including consultants, part-time and without compensation employees) which is believed to be patentable. The forms used for this purpose at the Rehab R&D Center in Palo Alto are shown in Appendix L. However, this requirement is now waived for inventions made by Dual Appointment Personnel (i.e. VA and Stanford) and for inventions made by VA and Stanford employees working together on a VA-funded project. Such inventions are to be reported to Stanford Office of Technology Licensing under a newly-signed cooperative R&D agreement [Appendix M].

4. If General Counsel, upon reviewing the Disclosure of Invention, decides to release an invention to the inventors, then those inventors who are still government employees shall not work on further development or commercialization of that particular device during working hours or using government facilities from that date forward. This restriction does not apply, however, to other government employees at the Center, nor does it apply if the inventors should reassign the invention to the government.

5. Although copyrightable materials developed at the Center cannot be copyrighted by anyone (see Section XV), a government employee can copyright written materials developed on his/her own time without the use of government facilities, provided that the materials are not related to the work of the Center.

6. In the case of potentially patentable products for which GC has not yet ruled on ownership rights, Center employees shall make all reasonable efforts to delay or avoid non-confidential disclosure of proprietary information to other organizations or to the general public until such time as a U.S. patent application has been initiated with a patent attorney. A Confidential Disclosure Agreement form (e.g.,Appendix B) can be used for those situations where confidential disclosure is appropriate or desirable.

7. In the case of non-patentable devices, it seems best and simplest to treat them in exactly the same manner as material that would, in private industry, be copyrightable material. That is, they should be announced to the general public in the form of publication in a professional or trade journal, or in the Commerce Business Daily (a government publication) or on the Internet, to insure that all companies are given equal opportunity to manufacture and market the device on a nonexclusive basis. The Center Annual Report can also serve this function.

8. Before making any effort to deal or collaborate with any private company in the commercialization of any potential product, or announcing the availability of such a product for commercialization, a preliminary patent search (perhaps by computer servicesee Appendix C) should be made to ascertain whether such a product may already be patented by a third party, thereby raising the possibility of patent infringement by the company.

9. All Center employees will make all reasonable efforts to avoid any actual or perceived conflict of interest by avoiding working during normal working hours (or using any government facilities) on any project from which he/she may receive any personal gain, either directly or indirectly. This includes working on an invention to which the rights have been released to that individual, or working on an invention that will benefit a company in which the employee has a financial interest. However, it does not include an invention owned by the government on which the employee/inventor may receive royalties (see Appendix A).