Supreme Court Rules on Scope of Federal Contractors' Rights in Federally Funded Inventions
Client Alert | 1 min read | 06.07.11
On June 6, 2011, the United States Supreme Court, by a 7-2 margin, held in Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., No. 09-1159, that the term "subject invention" in the Bayh-Dole Act (35 U.S.C. § 200, et seq.), the statute that allocates certain rights in federally funded "subject invention[s]," includes only inventions for which the contractor has obtained a valid assignment from the employee inventor(s), and, therefore, that a contractor (and presumably the government) cannot obtain rights to an invention under the Bayh-Dole Act absent such an assignment. In so holding, the Court stated that the Bayh-Dole Act "simply assures contractors that they may keep title to whatever it is they already have" – which serves as a reminder to federal contractors desiring title to their employees' inventions to obtain valid assignments.
Contacts
Insights
Client Alert | 5 min read | 09.03.26
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule amending 14 CFR Part 234 that fundamentally changes how airlines report the causes of flight delays and cancellations. Effective October 19, 2026, the rule implements Section 511(b) of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 by creating a new reporting category, the “Section 511(b) category,” for ten specific events that Congress determined are not attributable to airline control. The rule simultaneously narrows the existing "Air Carrier" reporting category by expressly excluding those same ten events.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 09.03.26
FDA Seeks Input for Regulating GenAI-Powered Medical Devices
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 09.03.26
SBA Proposal to Overhaul Size Standards Would Transform Federal Government Contracting
Client Alert | 5 min read | 09.02.26
DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative Claims Another DEI-Related FCA Settlement
