National security considerations for waiver of certain sensitive inventions.
10 C.F.R. § 784.6
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) Whenever, in the course of or under any Government contract or subcontract of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program or the nuclear weapons programs or other atomic energy defense activities of the Department of Energy, a contractor makes an invention or discovery to which title vests in the Department of Energy pursuant to statute, the contractor may request waiver of any or all of the Government's property rights. The Secretary of Energy or designee may decide to waive the Government's rights.
(b) In making a decision under this section, the Secretary or designee shall consider, in addition to the objectives of DOE waiver policy as specified in § 784.3(a)(1) through (4), and the considerations specified in § 784.4 for advance waivers, and § 784.5 for waiver of identified inventions, the following:
(1) Whether national security will be compromised;
(2) Whether sensitive technical information (whether classified or unclassified) under the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program or the nuclear weapons programs or other atomic energy defense activities of the Department of Energy for which dissemination is controlled under Federal statutes and regulations will be released to unauthorized persons;
(3) Whether an organizational conflict of interest contemplated by Federal statutes and regulations will result, and
(4) Whether waiving such rights will adversely affect the operation of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program or the nuclear weapons programs or other atomic energy defense activities of the Department of Energy.
(c) A decision under this § 784.6 shall be made within 150 days after the date on which a complete request for waiver, as described by paragraph (d) of this section, has been submitted to the Patent Counsel by the contractor.
(d) In addition to the requirements for content which apply generally to all waiver requests under paragraph (a) of this section, a requestor must include a full and detailed statement of facts, to the extent known by or available to the requestor, directed to the considerations set forth in paragraphs (b)(1) through (4) of this section, as applicable. To be considered complete, a waiver request must contain sufficient information, in addition to the content requirements under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, to allow the Secretary or designee to make a decision under this section. For advance waiver requests, such information shall include, at a minimum:
(1) An identification of all of the requestor's contractual arrangements involving the Government (including contracts, subcontracts, grants, or other arrangements) in which the technology involved in the contract was developed or used and any other funding of the technology by the Government, whether direct or indirect, involving any other party, of which the requestor is aware;
(2) A description of the requestor's past, current, and future private investment in and development of the technology which is the subject of the contract. This includes expenditures not reimbursed by the Government on research and development which will directly benefit the work to be performed under the instant contract, the amount and percentage of contract costs to be shared by the requestor, the out-of-pocket costs of facilities or equipment to be made available by the requestor for performance of the contract work which are not charged directly or indirectly to the Government under contract, and the contractor's plans and intentions to further develop and commercialize the technology at private expense;
(3) A description of competitive technologies or other factors which would ameliorate any anticompetitive effect of granting the waiver.
(4) Identification of whether the contract pertains to work that is classified, or sensitive, i.e., unclassified but controlled pursuant to section 148 of the Atomic Energy Action of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2168), or subject to export control under Chapter 17 of the Military Critical Technology List (MCTL) contained in Department of Defense Directive 5230.25 including identification of all principal uses of the subject matter of the contract, whether inside or outside the contractor program, and an indication of whether any such uses involve classified or sensitive technologies.
(5) Identification of all DOE and DOD programs and projects in the same general technology as the contract for which the requestor intends to be providing program planning advice or has provided program planning advice within the last three years.
(e) For identified invention requests under this section, such requests shall include at a minimum:
(1) A brief description of the intentions of the requestor (or its present or intended licensee) to commercialize the invention. This description should include:
(i) Estimated expenditures,
(ii) Anticipated steps,
(iii) The associated time periods to bring the invention to commercialization, and
(iv) A statement that requestor (or its present or intended licensee) has the capability to carry out its stated intentions.
(2) A description of any continuing Government funding of the development of the invention (including investigation of materials or processes for use therewith), from whatever Government source, whether direct or indirect, and, to the extent known by the requestor, any anticipated future Government funding to further develop the invention.
(3) A description of competitive technologies or other factors which would ameliorate any anticompetitive effects of granting the waiver.
(4) A statement as to whether or not the requestor would be willing to reimburse the Department of Energy for any and all costs and fees incurred by the Department in the preparation and prosecution of the patent applications covering the invention that is the subject of the waiver request.
(5) Where applicable, a statement of reasons why the request was not timely filed in accordance with the applicable patent rights clause of the contract, or why a request for an extension of time to file the request was not filed in a timely manner.
(6) Identification of whether the invention pertains to work that is classified, or sensitive, i.e., unclassified but controlled pursuant to section 148 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2168), or subject to export control under Chapter 17 of the Military Critical Technology List (MCTL) contained in Department of Defense Directive 5230.25, including identification of all principal uses of the invention inside or outside the contractor program, and an indication of whether any such uses involve classified or sensitive technologies.
(7) Identification of all DOE and DOD programs and projects in the same general technology as the invention for which the requestor intends to be providing program planning advice or has provided program planning advice within the last three years.
(8) A statement of whether a classification review of the invention disclosure, any resulting patent application(s), and/or any reports and other documents disclosing a substantial portion of the invention, has been made, together with any determinations on the existence of classified or sensitive information in either the invention disclosure, the patent application(s), or reports or other documents disclosing a substantial portion of the invention; and
(9) Identification of any and all proposals, work for other activities, or other arrangements submitted by the requestor, DOE, or a third party, of which requestor is aware, which may involve further funding of the work on the invention at either the contractor facility where the invention arose or another facility owned by the Government.
(f) Patent Counsel will notify the requestor promptly if the waiver request is found not to be a complete request and, in that event, will provide the requestor with a reasonable period, not to exceed 60 days, to correct any such incompleteness. If requestor does not respond within the allotted time period, the waiver request will be considered to be withdrawn. If requestor responds within the allotted time period, but the submittal is still deemed incomplete or insufficient, the waiver request may be denied.
(g) As set forth in paragraph (c) of this section, waiver decisions shall be made within 150 days after the date on which a complete request for waiver of such rights, as specified in this section, has been submitted by the requestor to the DOE Patent Counsel. If the original waiver request does not result in a communication from DOE Patent Counsel indicating that the request is incomplete, the 150-day period for decision commences on the date of receipt of the waiver request. If the original waiver request results in a communication from DOE Patent Counsel indicating that the request is incomplete, the 150-day period for decision commences on the date on which supplementary information is received by Patent Counsel sufficient to make the waiver request complete. For advance waiver requests, if requestor is not notified that the request is incomplete, the 150-day period for decision commences on the date of receipt of the request, or on the date on which negotiation of contract terms is completed, whichever is later.
(h) Failure of DOE to make a patent waiver decision within the prescribed 150-day period shall in no way be construed as a grant of the waiver.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-10.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026