Talk:Bayh–Dole Act

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What does "legislation dealing with inventions arising from federal government-funded research"[edit]

What does "dealing with" mean? I think it would more meaningful to say:

"legislation permitting contractors to own inventions arising from federal government-funded research"

For the 2nd paragraph, I'll insert my questions/comments in square brackets:

A key change made by Bayh–Dole was in the procedures by which federal contractors that acquired ownership of inventions [they didn't "acquire" the invention if they invented it] made with federal funding could retain that ownership ["retain" in the sense of continued ownership, not in the sense of taking ownership. Ie. not like a client retaining a lawyer. A better word might be "keep"]. Before the Bayh–Dole Act, the Federal Procurement Regulation required the use of a patent rights clause that in some cases required federal contractors or their inventors to assign inventions made under contract to the federal government unless the funding agency determined that the public interest was better served by allowing the contractor or inventor to retain principal or exclusive rights.[4] The National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the Department of Commerce had implemented programs that permitted non-profit organizations to retain rights to inventions upon notice without requesting an agency determination.[5] By contrast, Bayh–Dole uniformly permits non-profit organizations and small business firm contractors to retain ownership of inventions made under contract and which they have acquired ["acquired" what? The invention? The contract? They didn't acquire the invention if they initially created it], provided that each invention is timely disclosed and the contractor elects to retain ownership in that invention