EconDefense
ACQ-30 / Intellectual property and technology transfer

Retain government-use rights and conditionally intervene in federally funded inventions

Under covered small-business/nonprofit funding agreements, allow contractor title while retaining a paid-up government license; invoke statutory march-in only on specified findings.

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At a glance

Possible toolACQ-30 · Other statutory tools
Legal basis35 U.S.C. §202

Authority holder: Funding federal agency, with specified agency-head decisions

Other statutory tools

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Express statutory pathway; award-specific appropriations, available balances, delegations, implementation and approvals not independently verified.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Subject invention and applicable funding agreement; disclosure/title-election/patent conditions.
  • March-in requires failure of practical application, unmet health/safety or regulatory public-use need, or U.S. manufacturing-agreement violation.

Limits & exclusions

  • Not general power to seize all privately developed patents, cap market prices, or obtain proprietary manufacturing know-how.
  • March-in includes administrative process and judicial review; some determinations stayed through appeal.

Funding conditions

  • Government license follows covered research funding; exercising it still requires money for procurement/use.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • USD(R&E) and Service science-and-technology executives
    Office profile
  • DARPA or Service laboratory/program manager

Resources

  • Sponsoring component RDT&E budget owner; component comptroller
    Office profile

Approval

  • Secretary of Defense or military-department Secretary; valid delegate must be confirmed
    Office profile

Execution

  • DARPA Contracts Management Office or Service contracting/grants/agreements office
    Office profile
  • Performing laboratory or external research performer

Partners & review

  • Operational customer / acquiring program
  • Security, export-control, counsel and fiscal officials as applicable

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

Award officer documents subject invention → IP counsel verifies license or march-in predicate → agency process/decision → licensed performer.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

  • 35 U.S.C. §202Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 35 U.S.C. §203Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.
  • 35 U.S.C. §204Primary statutory text; primary GovInfo baseline and amendment audit identified in research narrative.

What this research establishes

Legal powerSource and conditions recorded
EligibilityProject-specific check needed
Available fundsBalances not verified
DelegationValid signature authority must be checked
ExecutionOffice capacity and approvals must be checked

Confidence: High on express authority and cited conditions; execution assignment is illustrative unless statute expressly names it.

Currentness: GovInfo 2024 Code (includes FY2025 NDAA, P.L. 118-159) read in full for cited provision; targeted FY2026 NDAA P.L. 119-60 amendment/repeal sweep. No claim of complete legislative currency through 2026-10-02; remaining 2026 delta needs counsel validation.

Research target: October 2, 2026. A record-specific last-review date is not supplied. Publication date is not legal-currentness certification.

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