NASA large business contractors and for profit organizations awarded NASA contracts, grants or cooperative agreements are required to comply with reporting requirements identified in the New Technology or Patent Rights Clause in the Contract, or Patent Rights Clause in the Grant or Cooperative Agreement. NASA small business contractors are required to comply with the Patent Rights Clause of the Contract. Reporting New Technologies and Inventions as soon as possible after conception allows the Center s Patent Counsel to determine ownership and whether intellectual property protection is appropriate. Reporting prior to public disclosure, publication, or presentation at a conference allows Patent Counsel to file a patent application prior to possible statutory bars, which may preclude patent protection. Filing a patent application establishes and protects rights.
Secrecy provides little protection for the innovation.
Consideration for awards. There is often a misunderstanding about who should be listed as innovators when reporting a new technology. In many successful developments, there is a tendency to identify as many participants as possible to share in any rewards. In reporting new technologies and innovations, the guideline to follow is to identify only those who have made direct, unique, and significant contributions to the conception of the innovation. Conception within the meaning of the patent law requires the formation, in the mind of the inventor, of a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention, as it is thereafter to be applied in practice.