[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 127 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4464-S4465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 459. Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. Portman) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 2810, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle B of title II, add the following:
SEC. ___. PILOT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE INCENTIVES FOR TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFER FROM DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
LABORATORIES.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish a
pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of
distributing royalties and other payments as described in
this section. Under the pilot program, except as provided in
subsections (b) and (d), any royalties or other payments
received by a Federal agency from the licensing and
assignment of inventions under agreements entered into by
Department of Defense laboratories, and from the licensing of
inventions of Department of Defense laboratories, shall be
retained by the laboratory which produced the invention and
shall be disposed of as follows:
(1)(A) The laboratory director shall pay each year the
first $2,000, and thereafter at least 20 percent, of the
royalties or other payments, other than payments of patent
costs as delineated by a license or assignment agreement, to
the inventor or coinventors, if the inventor's or
coinventor's rights are directly assigned to the United
States.
(B) A laboratory director may provide appropriate
incentives, from royalties or other payments, to laboratory
employees who are not an inventor of such inventions but who
substantially increased the technical value of the
inventions.
(C) The laboratory shall retain the royalties and other
payments received from an invention until the laboratory
makes payments to employees of a laboratory under
subparagraph (A) or (B).
(2) The balance of the royalties or other payments shall be
transferred by the agency to its laboratories, with the
majority share of the royalties or other payments from any
invention going to the laboratory where the invention
occurred. The royalties or other payments so transferred to
any laboratory may be used or obligated by that laboratory
during the fiscal year in which they are received or during
the 2 succeeding fiscal years--
(A) to reward scientific, engineering, and technical
employees of the laboratory, including developers of
sensitive or classified technology, regardless of whether the
technology has commercial applications;
(B) to further scientific exchange among the laboratories
of the agency;
(C) for education and training of employees consistent with
the research and development missions and objectives of the
agency or laboratory, and for other activities that increase
the potential for transfer of the technology of the
laboratories of the agency;
(D) for payment of expenses incidental to the
administration and licensing of intellectual property by the
agency or laboratory with respect to inventions made at that
laboratory, including the fees or other costs for the
services of other agencies, persons, or organizations for
intellectual property management and licensing services; or
(E) for scientific research and development consistent with
the research and development missions and objectives of the
laboratory.
(3) All royalties or other payments retained by the
laboratory after payments have been made pursuant to
paragraphs (1)
[[Page S4465]]
and (2) that are unobligated and unexpended at the end of the
second fiscal year succeeding the fiscal year in which the
royalties and other payments were received shall be paid into
the Treasury of the United States.
(b) Treatment of Payments to Employees.--
(1) In general.--Any payment made to an employee under the
pilot program shall be in addition to the regular pay of the
employee and to any other awards made to the employee, and
shall not affect the entitlement of the employee to any
regular pay, annuity, or award to which the employee is
otherwise entitled or for which the employee is otherwise
eligible or limit the amount thereof. Any payment made to an
inventor as such shall continue after the inventor leaves the
laboratory.
(2) Cumulative payments.--(A) Cumulative payments made
under the pilot program while the inventor is still employed
at the laboratory shall not exceed $500,000 per year to any
one person, unless the Secretary concerned (as defined in
section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code) approves a
larger award.
(B) Cumulative payments made under the pilot program after
the inventor leaves the laboratory shall not exceed $150,000
per year to any one person, unless the head of the agency
approves a larger award (with the excess over $150,000 being
treated as an agency award to a former employee under section
4505 of title 5, United States Code).
(c) Invention Management Services.--Under the pilot
program, a laboratory receiving royalties or other payments
as a result of invention management services performed for
another Federal agency or laboratory under section 207 of
title 35, United States Code, may retain such royalties or
payments to the extent required to offset payments to
inventors under subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1), costs
and expenses incurred under subparagraph (D) of subsection
(a)(2), and the cost of foreign patenting and maintenance for
any invention of the other agency. All royalties and other
payments remaining after offsetting the payments to
inventors, costs, and expenses described in the preceding
sentence shall be transferred to the agency for which the
services were performed, for distribution in accordance with
subsection (a)(2).
(d) Certain Assignments.--Under the pilot program, if the
invention involved was one assigned to the laboratory--
(1) by a contractor, grantee, or participant, or an
employee of a contractor, grantee, or participant, in an
agreement or other arrangement with the agency; or
(2) by an employee of the agency who was not working in the
laboratory at the time the invention was made,
the agency unit that was involved in such assignment shall be
considered to be a laboratory for purposes of this section.
(e) Sunset.--The pilot program under this section shall
terminate 5 years after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
______