[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 227 (Monday, November 28, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page ]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-29137]


[Federal Register: November 28, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Patent Licenses; Biological Treatment for Controlling Wood 
Deteriorating Fungi

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) has 
developed and patented an environmentally friendly microbiocide, 
Actinomycete mutant, which protects wood and wood products against 
wood-attaching fungi and is seeking to license it and to enter into a 
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for its further 
development.

DATES: The FPL will receive applications for exclusive and/or co-
exclusive licenses together with proposals for further development of 
the research under a CRADA until 4:00 p.m. January 9, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
John G. Bachhuber, USDA, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 
One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53705-2398, (608) 231-
9282.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Patent No. 5,536,624, ``Biological Treatment 
for Controlling Wood Deteriorating Fungi'', has been granted to the 
FPL. The environmentally benign technology contained therein protects 
wood against discoloration by sapstain (blue-stain) and mold fungi and 
degradation by wood-rotting fungi. It involves the treatment of wood 
and wood products with the microbiocide in the form of (1) living 
cells, (2) metabolites, and (3) metabolites with low concentration of 
cobiocides. This technology is an alternative to treating wood with 
synthetic chemical preservatives which can pose a serious threat to the 
environment. The current market worldwide for antisapstain chemicals 
alone is about eighty million dollars annually. The value of treated 
wood shipments for the United States of America is about two billion, 
five hundred million dollars annually.
    It is anticipated that the entity entering into a CRADA will be 
granted a right of first refusal to license any new patents resulting 
form the research under the CRADA.
    This notice is issued under the authority of the Federal Technology 
Transfer Act of 1986 (15 U.S.C. 3710a).

    Dated: November 17, 1994.
Kenneth R. Peterson,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 94-29137 Filed 11-25-94; 8:45 am]
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