NIH issued a notice NOT-OD-15-004 to remind funding recipients of the requirements of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 and its implementing regulations.
It is NIH policy that the results and accomplishments of the activities that it funds should be made available to the public. PDs/PIs and funding recipients are expected to make the results and accomplishments of their activities available to the research community and to the public at large. If the outcomes of the research result in inventions, the provisions of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, as implemented in 37 CFR 401, apply.
As long as funding recipients abide by the provisions of the Bayh-Dole Act, as amended by the Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-404), 37 CFR 401 and any other applicable regulations, they have the right to retain title to any invention conceived or first actually reduced to practice under their NIH federal funding agreements. The principal objectives of these laws and the implementing regulation are to promote commercialization of federally funded inventions, while ensuring that inventions are used in a manner that promotes free competition and enterprise without unduly encumbering future research and discovery.
The regulation requires the federal funding recipient to use patent and licensing processes to transfer federally-supported technology to industry for development. Alternatively, unpatented research products or resources—“research tools”—may be made available through licensing to vendors or other investigators. Sharing of copyrightable outcomes of research may be in the form of journal articles or other publications.
Please refer to the notice, NOT-OD-15-004, for specific information regarding the application of the Bayh-Dole Act for recipients of federal funds. The notice addresses invention reporting requirements and mechanisms.
