[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 39 (Wednesday, February 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13365-13366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04442]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Prospective Grant of Exclusive License: Food Quality Indicators

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This is notice, in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37 
CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i), that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is contemplating the 
grant of a worldwide exclusive patent license to practice the 
inventions embodied in:
    HHS Ref. No. E-093-1997/0 ``Food Quality Indicator;''

[[Page 13366]]



 
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       Patent application No.               Territory               Filing date                                     Status
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61/052,674.........................  US                       July 16, 1997.........  Expired.
PCT/US1998/14780...................  Int'l                    July 16, 1998.........  Nationalized.
7,014,816..........................  US                       July 16, 1998.........  Issued (expires July 16, 2017).
782088.............................  AU                       July 16, 1998.........  Issued (expires July 16, 2018).
10-0764516-0.......................  KR                       July 16, 1998.........  Issued (expires July 16, 2018).
98934602.8.........................  EP                       July 16, 1998.........  Pending (expected expiry July 16, 2018).
129002.............................  IL                       July 16, 1998.........  Issued (expires July 16, 2018).
4538106............................  JP                       July 16, 1998.........  Issued (expires July 16, 2018).
2268477............................  CA                       July 16, 1998.........  Issued (expires July 16, 2018).
241666.............................  MX                       July 16, 1998.........  Issued (expires July 16, 2018).
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to Vivione Biosciences, LLC, a company incorporated under the laws of 
the State of Delaware having its headquarters in Jonesboro, Arkansas. 
The United States of America is the assignee of the rights in the above 
inventions. The contemplated exclusive license may be granted in a 
field of use limited to devices for detecting volatile compounds 
indicative of food spoilage.

DATES: Only written comments and/or applications for a license received 
by the NIH Office of Technology Transfer on or before March 29, 2013 
will be considered.

ADDRESSES: Requests for a copy of the patent application, inquiries, 
comments and other materials relating to the contemplated license 
should be directed to: Michael A. Shmilovich, Esq., CLP, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive 
Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, MD 20852-3804; Telephone: (301) 435-
5019; Facsimile: (301) 402-0220; Email: [email protected]. A signed 
confidentiality nondisclosure agreement will be required to receive 
copies of any patent applications that have not been published by the 
United States Patent and Trademark Office or the World Intellectual 
Property Organization.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The patent applications (including any 
patents issuing therefrom or claiming priority thereto) intended for 
licensure describe and claim indicator strips for monitoring food 
quality and freshness in real time. The major factor for food spoilage 
is the release of volatile gases due to the action of enzymes contained 
within the food or produced by microorganisms growing in the food. The 
rate of release of such gases depends on food's storage history. In 
this technology, a reactive dye locked in a water-repellent material 
reacts with the gases released during food decomposition, and changes 
color. Thus a rapid and informed decision can be made about quality of 
food and its shelf life under the storage conditions used. Since the 
detection is based on biological processes that are the root cause for 
food spoilage, these indicators are much more reliable. This technology 
provides an alternative to the current methods for assessing food 
quality that cannot accurately estimate shelf life of food products due 
to unreliable storage history. These indicators have been successfully 
tested on seafood and meats and can be easily adapted to dairy 
products.
    The prospective exclusive license will be royalty bearing and will 
comply with the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. 
The prospective exclusive license may be granted unless, within thirty 
(30) days from the date of this published notice, NIH receives written 
evidence and argument that establishes that the grant of the license 
would not be consistent with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 
CFR 404.7.
    Properly filed competing applications for a license filed in 
response to this notice will be treated as objections to the 
contemplated license. Comments and objections submitted in response to 
this notice will not be made available for public inspection, and, to 
the extent permitted by law, will not be released under the Freedom of 
Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552.

    Dated: February 20, 2013.
Richard Rodriguez,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 2013-04442 Filed 2-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P