[6232] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: NSA patent
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School )
Thu Dec 9 19:49:11 1999
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 19:38:44 -0500 (EST)
From: "Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law" <froomkin@law.miami.edu>
To: "P.J. Ponder" <ponder@freenet.tlh.fl.us>
Cc: cryptography@c2.net
In-Reply-To: <Pine.OSF.3.96.991209155524.20269B-100000@fn3.freenet.tlh.fl.us>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.10.9912091936450.2999-100000@spitfire.law.miami.edu>
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The US can have a patent, and indeed there is a special statute that
allows them to take your patent if the product has a national security
dimention.
On Thu, 9 Dec 1999, P.J. Ponder wrote:
> I looked in the US Constitution and didn't find a restriction there, but I
> have a vague recollection that US government agencies are not eligible for
> this sort of protection. The argument being that the taxpayers paid for
> it, and the results of the work should be free for all to use.
>
You may be mistaking patent for copyright. As a matter of policy (not
constitutional requirement) the US does not copyright works written by
federal employees, but rather releases them to the public domain.
> I'm obviously wrong, since the NSA was awarded a patent, and they are an
> agency of the US. I know US states can get patents and copyrights and I
> think the State of Florida may still be getting paid for inventing
> Gatorade, for instance. Is there a restriction on intellectual property
> protections available to agencies of the US? Was there a recent change in
> the law to allow this?
>
--
A. Michael Froomkin | Professor of Law | froomkin@law.tm
U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA
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