NASA Patents To Be Auctioned 224
Presto Vivace writes to tell us that as a continuing push to commercialize NASA-funded technology a group of 25 NASA patents will be auctioned off this coming October. "The sale, which will include rights to signal processing, GPS for spacecraft and sensor technologies, is the first auction under a partnership announced earlier this month between Goddard's Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) and Ocean Tomo Federal Services LLC. Ocean Tomo provides a marketplace for intellectual property, which NASA wants to leverage in commercializing its technology."
Re:"Socialize losses, privatize gains" variation? (Score:1, Informative)
Let me speak as someone who has worked directly with some of the IP involved in this auction. NASA chooses to pursue some types of technology development because it:
A) has a direct benefit to NASA and
B) private corporations for one reason or another choose not to explore the area
NASA will develop and mature this technology for its own use (often to the point of building functional devices for its own missions), even though it might have further commercial (usually in the space business, not consumer items!) applications. Obviously, if the technology has uses beyond NASAs own, then the technology should be "spun off", it should not be locked up within the agency. A smart company will buy the IP, build the device, and reap the monetary rewards, hopefully with a benefit to the end consumer of the technology. NASA is not in the business of building widgets for profit, or even at cost, outside of its own use. Yes, in some ways it is corporate welfare, a corporation gets valuable technology. Hopefully the price paid reimburses NASA for the costs of development.
I had the same reaction (Score:5, Informative)
Donations Link (Score:3, Informative)
Mr. Malackowski's donation record: http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?zip=60657&last=Malackowski&first=James [newsmeat.com]
Like the others, NASA should license the patent and collect revenues. Selling it outright is simply giving it away.
Re:Strange disparity between patents and copyright (Score:1, Informative)
As somebody who is a contractor for NASA you should see all the shady stuff the lawyers come up with to get around their "public domain problem".
A common tactic is to hire a contractor (like me), have the company they are working for claim copyright, then have that company transfer the claim to NASA. This is to use a loophole that takes advantage of the fact that government agencies can own copyright, but not create it.
The new one they've come up with how is to copyright things as "Copyright by United States Government as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration" (You'll see this one on WorldWind). I'm not sure about the legalese of it, but I'm assuming it's some loophole due to the NASA administrator being a political appointee that would allow them to assign copyright to him.