Reading Room Document
Application of 18 U.S.C. § 209 to Employee-Inventors Who Receive Outside Royalty Payments
A federal government employee who obtains patent rights to an invention made in the course of federal employment ordinarily does not violate 18 U S.C. § 209 by licensing the patent rights to a private entity and receiving royalty payments in exchange. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/19376/download.
The OLC's Opinions
Opinions published by the OLC, including those released in response to our FOIA lawsuit