On 8/30/12 12:37 PM, Bob Camp wrote:
Hi
The original patents on the MCXO are government property. One of the Ft.
Monmouth guys came up with the fundamental / third overtone idea back in the
80's. Several (at least three) companies were licensed by the government to
make the part.
Gotta be careful there..
A lot of times these days, the government doesn't own the patent, they
get a "government use" license. If it was a civil servant doing the
work, then, yes, government owns it, and anyone can use it. However, if
it was a contractor at a government facility, or developed under a
contract (particularly a university), then it might be much stickier.
If you wanted to build something to sell to the government, then getting
a license is easy. But for the general public, perhaps not.
Working at JPL, which is part of Cal Tech, on NASA's nickle, we're made
VERY aware of exactly who owns the fruits of our brains, and who gets to
use it. The Bayh Dole act has many unexpected consequences.
These days, a lot of the people working at government labs are not civil
servants, but are "Technical Support and Engineering Personnel". This
allows them to report a lower headcount of government employees.
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