42 U.S.C. § 7261a: Protection of sensitive…

Summary

When a contractor invents something while working on certain Department of Energy defense contracts and asks to get the government's ownership, the Secretary of Energy can give the government’s rights to the contractor. The Secretary must decide within 150 days after getting a complete request. A complete request must include the information the Secretary’s rules say is needed. If the Secretary misses the 150‑day deadline, they must tell the House and Senate Armed Services Committees why within 10 days after the deadline. If a decision is still not made, the Secretary must send another report every 30 days until the decision is finished. In deciding, the Secretary must also think about national security, whether sensitive technical information would be released, possible conflicts of interest, and whether not claiming rights would hurt the Navy propulsion, weapons, or other atomic energy defense programs, along with any other applicable policies.

Title 42, §7261a

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Property rights in inventions and discoveries; timely determination; reports to Congressional committees

(1)Whenever any contractor makes an invention or discovery to which the title vests in the Department of Energy pursuant to exercise of section 202(a)(ii) or (iv) of title 35, or pursuant to section 2182 of this title or section 5908 of this title 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 and the contractor requests waiver of any or all of the Government’s property rights, the Secretary of Energy may decide to waive the Government’s rights and assign the rights in such invention or discovery.

(2)Such decision shall be made within 150 days after the date on which a complete request for waiver of such rights has been submitted to the Secretary by the contractor. For purposes of this paragraph, a complete request includes such information, in such detail and form, as the Secretary by regulation prescribes as necessary to allow the Secretary to take into consideration the matters described in subsection (b) in making the decision.

(3)If the Secretary fails to make the decision within such 150-day period, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate, within 10 days after the end of the 150-day period, a report on the reasons for such failure. The submission of such report shall not relieve the Secretary of the requirement to make the decision under this section. The Secretary shall, at the end of each 30-day period after submission of the first report during which the Secretary continues to fail to make the decision required by this section, submit another report on the reasons for such failure to the committees listed in this paragraph.

(b)Matters to be considered

In making a decision under this section, the Secretary shall consider, in addition to the applicable policies of section 2182 of this title or subsections (c) and (d) of section 5908 of this title—

(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 failure to assert such a claim 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.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was enacted as part of the Department of Energy National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy Authorization Act of 1987 and also as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987, and not as part of the Department of Energy Organization Act which comprises this chapter.

Amendments

1987—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100–180 designated existing provisions as par. (1), struck out at end “Such decision shall be made within a reasonable time (which shall usually be six months from the date of the request by the contractor for assignment of such rights).”, and added pars. (2) and (3).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1987 Amendment Pub. L. 100–180, div. C, title I, § 3135(b), Dec. 4, 1987, 101 Stat. 1241, provided that: “Paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 3131(a) of the Department of Energy National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy Authorization Act of 1987 [subsec. (a)(2), (3) of this section] (as added by subsection (a)) shall apply with respect to waiver requests submitted by contractors under that section after March 1, 1988.”

§7261a Protection of Sensitive Technical Information