I looked in the US Constitution and didn't find a restriction there, but I
have a vague recollection that US government agencies are not eligible for
this sort of protection. The argument being that the taxpayers paid for
it, and the results of the work should be free for all to use.
I'm obviously wrong, since the NSA was awarded a patent, and they are an
agency of the US. I know US states can get patents and copyrights and I
think the State of Florida may still be getting paid for inventing
Gatorade, for instance. Is there a restriction on intellectual property
protections available to agencies of the US? Was there a recent change in
the law to allow this?
