> > > We should expect a
> > > long hard fought legal battle...coming soon. I do not understand how the
> > > folks at NTIA could have made this error (if, indeed, they did) since
> > > the DOC did not have the constitutional authority to transfer a database
> > > held in "public trust" over to a private corporation.
>
> Almost every *research* contract issued by the USG allows the contractor to
> retain the intellectual property rights. This is the essence of the circa 1981
> Bayh-Dole Act. IMHO, the question here is whether or not there are any IP
> rights at all in the database itself. Under US law, databases are not
> protectible unless kept secret or arranged in some creative fashion.
I'm glad you highlighted the word *research*.
There is considerable room to debate the nature of the NSF/NTIA-NSI
Cooperate Agreement.
Rarely is "research" mentioned. (Indeed the cooperative agreement doesn't
use that word a context which would support a "research" interpretation.)
But....
My own reading, based on the fact that there is a right of transfer at the
end, plus the performance conditions, is that that Cooperative Agreement
is one for the performance of administrative duties, much like the
concessionaire of a national park might administer the Awhanee Hotel in
Yosemite. (Hint, the contractor doesn't get to keep the Hotel when the
contract is done.)
On the other hand, there are those "who were there" who say that the
Cooperative Agreement was more like the government paying someone to pave
a badly rutted road over private property to a government site so that the
government can get its trucks in more easily. (Hint, title to the the
road doesn't get conveyed to the govenment as a result. The government
benefited by less wear and tear on its trucks.)
The language about the transfer at the end may be explained by some
trouble that apparently occured at the end of the SRI administration, at
which time SRI apparently tried to withhold everything from the
government.
Anyway, there are merits on both sides of the see-saw. (I still see the
balance as being that NSI was merely admistering a government database.
But its a balance that apparently others who were close to the situation
at the time of the formation of the Cooperative Agreement see otherwise.)
--karl--
