[time-nuts] oscillators

[jmfranke]

If a civil servant was the inventor, the government is assigned the rights 
and no one can use it for other than government applications without a 
license. At one time I helped license government patents to companies.

John

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jim Lux" <jimlux at earthlink.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 8:11 PM
To: <time-nuts at febo.com>
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] oscillators

> On 8/30/12 12:37 PM, Bob Camp wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> The original patents on the MCXO are government property. One of the Ft.
>> Monmouth guys came up with the fundamental / third overtone idea back in 
>> the
>> 80's. Several (at least three) companies were licensed by the government 
>> to
>> make the part.
>>
>>
>
> Gotta be careful there..
>
> A lot of times these days, the government doesn't own the patent, they get 
> a "government use" license.  If it was a civil servant doing the work, 
> then, yes, government owns it, and anyone can use it.  However, if it was 
> a contractor at a government facility, or developed under a contract 
> (particularly a university), then it might be much stickier. If you wanted 
> to build something to sell to the government, then getting a license is 
> easy.  But for the general public, perhaps not.
>
> Working at JPL, which is part of Cal Tech, on NASA's nickle, we're made 
> VERY aware of exactly who owns the fruits of our brains, and who gets to 
> use it.  The Bayh Dole act has many unexpected consequences.
>
>
> These days, a lot of the people working at government labs are not civil 
> servants, but are "Technical Support and Engineering Personnel".  This 
> allows them to report a lower headcount of government employees.
>
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