10 
Second, for those institutions who do not have an institutional 
patent agreement, the Department defers determination of ownership until 
an invention has been made. Under the deferred determination policy, an 
innovating institution may petition the Department for ownership of an 
invention after it is identified. In the past, approximately 90 percent 
of all such petitions have been granted. 
The Department's policy of allocating invention rights is designed 
to facilitate the transfer of technology from the bench to the market- 
place by inducing industrial investment and continued development of 
inventions generated with Department support. The incentives provided 
by Department patent policy have encouraged the development of new 
technology in general and afforded patent protection for some inventions 
to the economic benefit of the United States. The control of DNA 
research envisioned by the guidelines, however, requires a delicate 
balance between need for rapid exchange of information and a potential 
means for achieving greater uniformity in safety practices by setting 
conditions for safety in licenses under patent agreements. 
Stanford and the University of California have indicated a willingness 
to consider modification of their patent agreement with the Department 
as it relates to such research. A number of possible policies, short of 
the present allocation of rights under the agreement, are currently 
being considered by the NIH as possible alternatives to the present 
allocation of rights made under all such agreements. As part of that 
review, the NIH has solicited the views not only of members of the NIH 
[822] 
