Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-102
§2572 Patents; Availability to General Public; Protection of Background Rights
Title 22 › CHAPTER 35 — ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT › SUBCHAPTER III — FUNCTIONS › § 2572
Summary
Government-funded, contracted, sponsored, or approved research done in the United States must make its results (like uses, products, processes, and patents) available to the public, except for limits the Secretary of State finds necessary for the public interest. Owners of any related prior patents keep the rights they already have.
Full Legal Text
Title 22, §2572
Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
All research within the United States contracted for, sponsored, cosponsored, or authorized under authority of this chapter, shall be provided for in such manner that all information as to uses, products, processes, patents, and other developments resulting from such research developed by Government expenditure will (with such exceptions and limitations, if any, as the Secretary of State may find to be necessary in the public interest) be available to the general public. This section shall not be so construed as to deprive the owner of any background patent relating thereto of such rights as he may have thereunder.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1998—Pub. L. 105–277, § 1223(7), substituted “Secretary of State” for “Director” and “section” for “subsection”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1998 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 105–277 effective Apr. 1, 1999, see section 1201 of Pub. L. 105–277, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 6511 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 2572
Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102