PATENT POLICY 23I 



Manhattan District in the spring of 1943. The termination agreements 

 expressly stated that the Government retained all its patent rights. 



The result was that, under all NDRC and OSRD research and devel- 

 opment contracts in the field of atomic energy, the Government received 

 the right to determine the disposition of all patents covering inventions 

 and discoveries made during the course of the required work. The practice 

 was uniformly followed of vesting tide to patents in this field in the 

 Government. 



At the time of the transfer of responsibility for research in the field of 

 atomic fission to the Manhattan District, the Secretary of War told Bush 

 that in his opinion it was advisable to have one centralized administrative 

 group handling all patent rights on the atomic fission project, and he re- 

 quested that the OSRD Director be the custodian of such rights. Major 

 General Leslie R. Groves, Director of the Manhattan project, pointed out 

 that Lavender had already set up a patent administrative organization 

 and was familiar with the problems. As a result of those discussions, the 

 War Department atomic fission research and development contracts pro- 

 vided that the OSRD Advisor on Patent Matters should be the Contracting 

 Officer's representative for patent matters. Lavender was the OSRD patent 

 advisor and as such acted as the patent advisor for the Manhattan District; 

 Bush, as Director of OSRD, received, on behalf of the Government, assign- 

 ments of rights to inventions made under the Manhattan District contracts. 



During the period when OSRD was active, there was considerable agi- 

 tation in various quarters for modification of the patent system of the 

 United States and a feeling in some places that whenever any Government 

 funds were spent on a project, all rights to inventions flowing from that 

 project should vest in the Government. In general the OSRD position was 

 that it was not created to rectify abuses which might exist in the patent 

 system; and that until such time as Congress should modify the system or 

 Government policies within the existing system, OSRD would be guided 

 by practices theretofore followed. The primary result of OSRD activities 

 was a large number of contributions to the winning of the war; an inci- 

 dental, but important, result was placing in the hands of the Government 

 substantial rights under many developments, some of them of great poten- 

 tial peacetime significance. 



