[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 130 (Tuesday, October 17, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H9947-H9949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER COMMERCIALIZATION ACT

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 209) to improve the 
ability of Federal agencies to license federally owned inventions.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Senate amendment:
       Page 21, after line 2, insert:

     SEC. 11. TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS OMBUDSMAN.

       (a) Appointment of Ombudsman.--The Secretary of Energy 
     shall direct the director of each national laboratory of the 
     Department of Energy, and may direct the director of each 
     facility under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy, 
     to appoint a technology partnership ombudsman to hear and 
     help resolve complaints from outside organizations regarding 
     the policies and actions of each such laboratory or facility 
     with respect to technology partnerships (including 
     cooperative research and development agreements), patents, 
     and technology licensing.
       (b) Qualifications.--An ombudsman appointed under 
     subsection (a) shall be a senior official of the national 
     laboratory or facility who is not involved in day-to-day 
     technology partnerships, patents, or technology licensing, 
     or, if appointed from outside the laboratory or facility, 
     function as such a senior official.
       (c) Duties.--Each ombudsman appointed under subsection (a) 
     shall--
       (1) serve as the focal point for assisting the public and 
     industry in resolving complaints and disputes with the 
     national laboratory or facility regarding technology 
     partnerships, patents, and technology licensing;
       (2) promote the use of collaborative alternative dispute 
     resolution techniques such as mediation to facilitate the 
     speedy and low-cost resolution of complaints and disputes, 
     when appropriate; and
       (3) report quarterly on the number and nature of complaints 
     and disputes raised, along with the ombudsman's assessment of 
     their resolution, consistent with the protection of 
     confidential and sensitive information, to--
       (A) the Secretary;
       (B) the Administrator for Nuclear Security;
       (C) the Director of the Office of Dispute Resolution of the 
     Department of Energy; and
       (D) the employees of the Department responsible for the 
     administration of the contract for the operation of each 
     national laboratory or facility that is a subject of the 
     report, for consideration in the administration and review of 
     that contract.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. 
Gordon) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks on H.R. 209.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 209 continues the Committee on Science's long and 
rich history of advancing technology transfer to help boost United 
States international competitiveness.
  Through the enactment of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation 
Act of 1980, the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1988, and the 
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, Congress, by 
the direction of the Committee on Science, has created the framework to 
promote the government-to-industry transfer of technology that has 
enhanced our Nation's ability to compete in the global marketplace.
  H.R. 209, which originally passed the House in May of last year, 
continues this tradition.
  Last week, the Senate agreed to H.R. 209 and added a new section to 
the bill that directs the director of each Department of Energy 
laboratory to appoint an ombudsman to hear and help

[[Page H9948]]

resolve industry partner concerns regarding laboratory policies or 
actions.
  The ombudsman's primary duty is to facilitate the speedy and low-cost 
resolution of complaints and disputes with industry partners.
  In its consideration, the Senate made clear that, to ensure fairness 
and objectivity, the ombudsman should promote the use of collaborative 
alternative dispute resolution techniques, such as mediation, but that 
the amendment should not be interpreted to empower the ombudsman to act 
as a mediator or arbitrator in the process.
  After its passage today, H.R. 209 will be sent to the President for 
his signature into law.
  I congratulate the Chair of the Subcommittee on Technology of the 
Committee on Science, the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), for 
introducing this bill and for her tireless efforts to work 
cooperatively with the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) and other 
Members of the minority, the administration, and the other body in 
crafting this important bill.
  I urge adoption of the Technology Transfer Commercialization Act, and 
I look forward to its signature by the President.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GORDON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 209, the Technology Transfer 
Commercialization Act of 1999, and urge its passage.
  This is a bill but important piece of legislation that will make it 
much easier to transfer Federal technology to the businesses that can 
extract economic value from that technology.
  It has been about a year and a half since this legislation was last 
on the floor of the House of Representatives. It was a good bill in 
March of 1999, and it is a good bill now.
  The only changes which the Senate made to the legislation was to add 
a section that creates mediators or ombudsmen at each of the 
Department's national laboratories and makes sure that the appropriate 
people in the Department's headquarters are kept informed quarterly of 
the mediators' progress in resolving disputes.
  This provision is a good idea because some small businesses have been 
caught up for years in attempting to resolve intellectual property 
disputes with DOE laboratories. Having mediators in each lab should 
help small businesses by resolving those disputes much more quickly and 
inexpensively.
  The Senate did not change a word in the provisions we sent to them 
last year. The bill still makes important changes in the law regarding 
federally owned patents. It will now be easier for small businesses to 
license these inventions and more likely that taxpayers will get their 
money's worth from them.
  I urge my colleagues to think about these businesses, many of which 
are small and with limited resources, who are risking much to 
commercialize Federal inventions. This bill will make their lives 
easier, and it is worthy of our vote.
  I want to extend my thanks and compliments to my colleagues who 
worked on this legislation, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner), the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), and the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Barcia). I urge all Members to support 
this passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume 
to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella).
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the 
time, and I thank him for his outstanding leadership as Chair of the 
Committee on Science. I am pleased to be here.
  Each day in our Nation's over 700 government laboratories, Mr. 
Speaker, new innovations are created by our hard-working Federal 
scientists to meet the mission of that laboratory.
  There are instances, however, when these government-owned innovations 
have commercial applications beyond just the Federal mission and have 
been brought into the marketplace, resulting in consumer products that 
have improved our quality of life while also enhancing our 
international competitiveness.
  Successful technology transfer commercialization from our government 
laboratories is fighting our deadliest diseases, creating safer and 
more fuel-efficient methods of transportation, protecting the food that 
we eat, assisting the disabled, and making our environment cleaner.
  I will just list a few of the current examples of technology transfer 
success stories:
  An infrared heat-seeking digital sensor, developed with Department of 
Defense funding, designed to search for distant galaxies and spot 
missile launches as part of the Star Wars program that is being used to 
probe for the first signs of cancer in the human body;
  A NASA satellite device used to locate hotspots during fires and 
monitor volcanoes that has applications in recognizing tumors and 
abnormalities in women's breasts;
  Department of Energy research that developed gas-paneled, energy-
efficient superwindows has been transformed to develop an inexpensive, 
advanced insulating material for use as a thermal packaging to ship 
perishable cargo such as seafood, meat, fruit, prepared foods and 
pharmaceuticals; and
  Eye-tracking technology; food irradiation research that has an 
application in the commercial sector.
  But it should be clear by now that the importance of technology 
transfer to our economy and our society cannot be underscored enough; 
certainly, if we include some of the more storied success stories, such 
as the Internet, the AIDS home testing kit, and Global Positioning 
System.
  So by permitting effective collaboration between our Federal 
laboratories and private industry, new technologies are being rapidly 
commercialized.
  Federal technology transfer stimulates the American economy, enhances 
the competitive position of United States industry internationally, and 
promotes the development and use of new technologies developed under 
taxpayer-funded research so those innovations are incorporated quickly, 
effectively, and efficiently into practice to the benefit of the 
American public.
  One of the most successful legislative frameworks for advancing this 
has been the Bayh-Dole Act. The Bayh-Dole Act, which was enacted in 
1980, permits universities, not-for-profit organizations, and small 
businesses to obtain title to scientific inventions developed with 
Federal Government support. It also allows Federal agencies to license 
government-owned patented scientific inventions even nonexclusively, 
partially exclusively, or exclusively, depending upon which license is 
determined, to be the most effective means for achieving 
commercialization.
  Prior to the enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act, many discoveries 
resulting from federally funded scientific research were not 
commercialized to help the American public. Since the Federal 
Government lacked the resources to market new inventions and private 
industry was reluctant to make high-risk investments without the 
protection of patent rights, many valuable innovations were left unused 
on the shelf of Federal laboratories.
  With its success licensing Federal inventions, the Bayh-Dole Act is 
widely used as an effective framework for Federal technology transfer. 
So the process for licensing of government-owned patents should 
continue to be refined, we believe, by refining the procedures and by 
removing the uncertainties associated with the licensing process.
  So if we can by reducing that and the uncertainty created by existing 
procedural barriers and by lowering the transactional costs associated 
with licensing Federal technologies from the government, we could 
greatly increase participation by the private sector in its technology 
transfer programs. This approach would expedite the commercialization 
of government-owned inventions and through royalties could reduce the 
cost to the American taxpayer for the production of new technology-
based products created in our labs.
  That is the intention of this bill before us. The goal of H.R. 209 is 
to remove the procedural obstacles and, to the greatest extent possible 
within the public interest, the uncertainty involved in the licensing 
of Federal-patented inventions created in a government-owned, 
government-operated laboratory by applying the successful Bayh-Dole Act 
provision to a GOGO.

[[Page H9949]]

  Under the bill, its agencies would be provided with two important new 
tools for effectively commercializing on-the-shelf, federally owned 
technologies, either licensing them as stand-alone inventions under the 
bill's revised authorities of section 209 of the Bayh-Dole Act, or by 
including them as part of a larger package under the Cooperative 
Research and Development Agreement.
  In doing so, this will make both mechanisms much more attractive to 
U.S. companies that are striving to form partnerships with Federal 
laboratories.
  Let me just close by noting that the bill before us represents a 
bipartisan and bicameral consensus. I am pleased to have worked very 
closely with Members of the minority, the administration, and the 
Senate in helping to perfect the bill since it was originally 
introduced.
  I am especially pleased that the administration has issued a 
Statement of Administration Policy which states that the administration 
supports passage of H.R. 209, which will significantly facilitate the 
licensing of government-owned inventions by Federal agencies.
  I want to thank the chairman of the full committee, the Committee on 
Science, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), for his 
leadership; the ranking member of the Committee on Science, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall), as well as the ranking member of the 
Subcommittee on Technology of the Committee on Science, the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Barcia).
  I certainly want to commend the ranking member on the committee. I 
also want to commend some members of the other body, Senators 
Rockefeller, Frist, Hatch, and Leahy for their input and for their 
support in helping to refine the legislation.
  I look forward to the President's signature of this important bill 
into law.
  I want to point out that staff also helped enormously. Barry 
Berringer, Jim Turner, Jeff Grove, and Ben Wu especially worked very 
hard on this.
  The Federal laboratories are eager to receive the new authorities 
contained in this bill, and I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 
209.

                              {time}  1245

  Mr. GORDON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gibbons). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) that the 
House suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill, 
H.R. 209.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate amendment was 
concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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