PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 668.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · May 22, 1998
Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 1998 - Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to revise requirements regarding enumerated authority under a cooperative research and development agreement to permit Government laboratories to grant licenses to federally owned inventions made before the signing of such agreements and directly related to the scope of the work under such agreements. Rewrites Federal restrictions on the licensing of federally owned inventions. Requires a license applicant to make a commitment to achieve practical utilization of the invention within a reasonable time. Requires such a license to include provisions: (1) retaining a nontransferrable, irrevocable, paid-up license for the Federal agency to practice the invention or have the invention practiced throughout the world by or on behalf of the U.S. Government; (2) requiring periodic reporting on use of the invention by the licensee only to the extent necessary to enable the Federal agency to determine whether the licensee is complying with license terms; and (3) empowering the Federal agency to terminate the license if the licensee has been found by a competent authority to have violated the Federal antitrust laws in connection with its performance under the license agreement. Prohibits an agency from granting an exclusive or partially exclusive license on a federally-owned invention unless: (1) it has provided 30 days' public notice and considered all comments received; and (2) the person requesting the license has supplied to the agency a basic business plan with development or commercialization milestones (provides for exempting small business firms from such requirement for non-exclusive licenses). Requires that a license application include the detailed description of the applicant's plan for development or marketing (or both) of the invention as a subdocument which is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act and which includes only a statement on: (1) the resources required to bring the invention to practical application; (2) the applicant's capability and intention to fulfill the plan; (3) the fields of use for which the applicant intends to practice the invention; and (4) the geographic areas in which the applicant intends to use or sell the invention or to manufacture any product embodying the invention. Directs the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to review the procedures used by Federal agencies to gather and consider the views of other agencies before final approval or disapproval of: (1) joint work statements with non-Federal entities operating Federal laboratories; or (2) cooperative research and development agreements involving national security, or relating to projects which may have a significant impact on domestic or international competitiveness. Requires the Director to establish and distribute to appropriate Federal agencies: (1) specific criteria to indicate the necessity for interagency review of such approval or disapproval; and (2) procedures for such interagency review. Makes certain technical amendments to: (1) the Bayh-Dole Act with regard to the Government's acquisition of the rights of a private party to a federally owned invention; and (2) the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 relating to the distribution of royalties received by Federal agencies.
People & committees
Sen. Rockefeller, John D., IV [D-WV] · D–WV
Legislative record
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Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 668.
Committee on Commerce. Reported to Senate by Senator McCain with an amendment. With written report No. 105-358.
Committee on Commerce. Reported to Senate by Senator McCain with an amendment. With written report No. 105-358.
Committee on Commerce. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5451-5452)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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