EconDefense
ACQ-55 / Intellectual property and technology transfer

Retain licensing royalties and reinvest in inventors and laboratory missions

Retain laboratory invention licensing receipts, reward inventors and eligible contributors, and reinvest statutory balances in technology transfer, workforce and mission research.

Download record

At a glance

Possible toolACQ-55 · Licensing & IP

Authority holder: Agency or laboratory head and designated distribution officials

Licensing & IP

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

  • Receipts must arise from covered invention licensing/assignment; required inventor distribution and permitted-use rules.

Limits & exclusions

  • Not unrestricted profit retention: residual amounts, excess-receipt shares and expired balances go to Treasury.
  • Individual annual reward ceiling and Presidential exception apply.

Funding conditions

  • Balance generally available in receipt year and two succeeding fiscal years; statutory inventor share and distribution rules precede reinvestment.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • Laboratory scientific lead and Office of Research and Technology Applications

Resources

  • Laboratory director and sponsoring component budget owner

Approval

  • Laboratory director and agency approver as statute/delegation requires

Execution

  • Laboratory ORTA, counsel and authorized agreement official

Partners & review

  • Industry, universities, nonprofit and government collaborators within eligibility limits

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

Coordination pathway

ORTA/license administrator collects royalties → agency/lab fiscal officials distribute statutory shares → director funds eligible mission activities → return required balances.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

  • 15 U.S.C. §3710cPrimary 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.

Related tools in this family