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Government Contracts at the High Court

March 24, 2011

On February 28, 2011, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Stanford Junior Univ. v. Roche Molecular Sys., Inc., on the issue of whether a federal contractor's rights to an invention under the Bayh-Dole Act, 35 U.S.C. §§ 200-12, are trumped by a contractor-employee inventor's prior assignment to a third party of title to the same invention.  As discussed in the March 14, 2011, BNA's Federal Contracts Report article "High Noon for Bayh-Dole?" by C&M's John McCarthy and Jon Baker, if upheld, contractors performing federally funded R&D work will need to be diligent to ensure that the assignments they receive from their employee-inventors do not take a back seat to any assignment agreements between their employee-inventors and third parties.

 

For more information, please contact the professional(s) listed below, or your regular Crowell & Moring contact.

John E. McCarthy Jr.
Partner – Washington, D.C.
Phone: +1.202.624.2579
Email: jmccarthy@crowell.com
Jonathan M. Baker
Partner – Washington, D.C.
Phone: +1.202.624.2641
Email: jbaker@crowell.com