NASA Launches Searchable Database Of Public Domain Patents

An anonymous reader quotes a report from SlashGear: NASA has released a bunch of patents for its technologies so that anyone can use them. A total of 56 'formerly-patented' technologies developed by the government are now available in the public domain, meaning they can be used for commercial purposes in an unrestricted manner. To make it easier to find these technologies and others like them, NASA has also created a new searchable database that links the public to thousands of the agency's now-expired patents. According to NASA, the patents it has released may have non-aerospace applications that could help companies with commercial projects underway. Of the 56 formerly-patented technologies, users will find things like methods of propulsion, thrusters, rocket nozzles, advanced manufacturing processes, and more. NASA is "encouraging entrepreneurs to explore new ways to commercial NASA technologies," says NASA executive Daniel Lockney. Here's a direct link to search the database to your heart's content.

Simple question

[Anonymous Coward]

Why aren't patents owned or funded by the federal government in the public domain? Can anyone justify why the Bayh-Dole Act gives universities control of patents generated by federally funded research? If NASA, NSF, or some other government agency gives a grant to a university to do research, the university owns the patents and they must be licensed by the public. Can anyone justify this? I'm glad to see patents in the public domain, but it's not nearly enough.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Can anyone justify why the Bayh-Dole Act gives universities control of patents generated by federally funded research?

Right now it's to help run the planet into the toilet, AFAICT. For example, BP and DuPont have a corporation called Butamax which holds one of these patents generated, in part, by our tax dollars. The patent is on putting the genes from Clostridium acetobutylicum which make it produce butanol into other organisms which are more hardy, to improve production rates. While this is non-trivial, it is certainly obvious, so it should not have been patentable to begin with. Regardless, you and I paid for this paten

Re:

[PPH]

Say you're a government agency and you need a compiler for BCPL

I think this sort of thing isn't patentable. At least not by the company or university funded to do the work. The 'novel' idea has already been thought of by the agency. The company has just been hired to do the design and coding grunt work to a specification.

I don't doubt that a lot of this goes on already. Government inventions being in the public domain (classified stuff aside), there's no profit motive. So they pass the idea on to a buddy at a private s/w firm in exchange for a few bureaucrats taking a

Re:

[SeattleLawGuy]

Why aren't patents owned or funded by the federal government in the public domain? Can anyone justify why the Bayh-Dole Act gives universities control of patents generated by federally funded research? If NASA, NSF, or some other government agency gives a grant to a university to do research, the university owns the patents and they must be licensed by the public. Can anyone justify this? I'm glad to see patents in the public domain, but it's not nearly enough.

There are legitimate policy reasons for it, although it would also be legitimate to have outright dedication to the public domain, for example; it's a policy choice where people can come down either way.

Notably, the inventions go into the public domain in a few decades anyway, and the grants are helping to fund science education, so the public is still getting a significant benefit. It also keeps more labs interested: Universities are less likely to hesitate to apply for a grant, patent royalties may help

The times they are 'a changin'

[rmdingler]

We've reached a disappointing time in history when NASA's new launch is a "Searchable Database".

searchable but not findable

[frovingslosh]

It isn't really a searchable database, it is just more of the same from NASA. No info on UFOs or how to film those silly movies they had made showing men on the moon. Just another layer of the cover-up.

Remember the good old days

[rossdee]

when NASA used to launch people into space

Re:

[Coren22]

Yeah, all the way back to March 18, 2016...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

Oooh, that gives me an idea

[Solandri]

Allow anyone to file a public domain patent at no cost (or a trivial cost, like $10). So if you've got an idea you think is so simple that it shouldn't be patentable, but you're worried that if you don't patent it someone else might succeed at tricking the patent office into granting it and suing you, you can just file it as a public domain patent. You cannot make any money off of it, so you aren't charged much money for it.

Basically it flips around the first-to-file concept of invalidating a patent if

18th post!

[N3wsByt3]

Pretty few posts on this topic, I must say...

That said, since NASA is paid by tax-payers' money, they should make available ALL of their patents to ALL the citizens...