PATENT POLICY 229 



aration of applications for patent. The Patent Division at that time had 

 not been informed of the election of the Services as to the remaining 2200 

 invention reports. 



There are two fields of OSRD research and development which merit 

 special mention from a patent standpoint: (i) radar, in which OSRD, the 

 War Department, and the Navy Department established a definite patent 

 program integrated among the three agencies; and (2) atomic energy, a 

 new field opening up untold possibilities for the future in both military 

 and civil applications. 



The Government Radar Patent Program 



In early 1942, OSRD, the Army, and the Navy were all engaged in 

 research and development in the field of radar. The OSRD program was 

 centralized in Divisions 14 and 15, the principal laboratories being the 

 Radiation Laboratory at M.I.T., and the Radio Research Laboratory at 

 Harvard University. It was under the short form patent clause, which 

 meant that the Government had to arrange for the preparation, filing and 

 prosecution of the applications for patent under these contracts. 



The first plan was for a small group of attorneys to be employed at the 

 Radiation Laboratory to make invention reports in the form of applications 

 to be forwarded to the Navy Department for filing and prosecution. It 

 soon became apparent from the number of inventions processed in this 

 manner, not only that the Navy Department Patent Section was unable 

 to secure a sufficient number of attorneys to handle the applications orig- 

 inating in OSRD, but also that there was an overlapping of claims of in- 

 ventorship as between naval personnel and M.I.T. personnel. This conflict 

 focused attention upon other possible conflicts with inventors in the War 

 Department laboratories. As a result of a series of conferences of represen- 

 tatives of OSRD, the Army and Navy, it was agreed that, in view of the 

 enormous sums of money being spent by the Government in the develop- 

 ment of radar equipment, a Government Radar Patent Program (GRPP) 

 should be established. This program provided for a monthly meeting of 

 the representatives of the several laboratories. At each meeting matters of 

 policy were decided and the latest technical developments at each laboratory 

 reviewed, to the end that possible conflicts in claims of inventorship could 

 be determined at that time. 



To resolve possible conflicts, a system for the exchange of information 

 known as Exchange Sheets was established, under which the representative 

 of each laboratory prepared and transmitted to the others, prior to a meet- 

 ing, a brief description of each invention made at his laboratory and con- 

 sidered as the subject of an application for patent. Upon receipt of these 

 Exchange Sheets each laboratory located any conflicting subject matter that 



