Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 25, 2024

Title 10 - Energy last revised: Nov 19, 2024
§ 81.20 - Nonexclusive licenses.

(a) NRC inventions will normally be made available for the grant of nonexclusive licenses to responsible applicants who will practice the invention and make its benefits reasonably accessible to the public.

(1) The nonexclusive license will be revocable, at the option of the Commission, if the licensee does not comply with all the terms and conditions of the license agreement.

(2) The duration of the license shall be for a specified period and/or such additional period as may be provided for in the license agreement.

(3) The license shall require the licensee to bring the invention to the point of practical application within a period specified in the license agreement, or as the period may be extended by the Commission, and then to continue to make the benefits of the invention reasonably accessible to the public.

(4) The license shall be granted for all of the fields of use of the invention, or only such fields of use as may be specified in the license agreement, and throughout the United States of America, its territories and possessions, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia or in any lesser geographic portion thereof as may be specified in the license agreement.

(5) The licensee shall be required to submit periodic reports on his efforts to bring the invention to a point of practical application and the extent to which he continues to make the benefits of the invention reasonably accessible to the public. Unless otherwise specified in the license, such periodic reports will be required annually prior to the anniversary date of the grant of the license. The reports shall contain information within the licensee's knowledge, or which the licensee may acquire under normal business practices, pertaining to the commercial use being made of the invention, and other information which the Commission may determine to be pertinent to the licensing activity of the Commission and specified in the license agreement.

(6) Normally a royalty shall not be charged U.S. citizens and U.S. corporations for nonexclusive licenses on NRC inventions.

(7) The license may extend to wholly-owned subsidiaries of the licensee but shall be nonassignable, or otherwise nontransferable, without approval of the Commission.

(8) The Commission may revoke the license (i) for failure of the licensee to bring the invention to the point of practical application or to continue to make the benefits of the invention reasonably accessible to the public, (ii) if the licensee defaults in making any periodic report required by the license, or (iii) if the licensee commits any breach of any covenant or agreement therein contained, or (iv) if the licensee willfully makes, or has made, a false statement of a material fact or omitted a material fact in the license application submitted pursuant to § 81.40(a) or in any report required by the license agreement.

(9) The Commission may restrict the licensee to the particular fields of use and/or geographical areas in which the licensee has brought the invention to the point of practical application and continue to make the benefits of the invention reasonably accessible to the public.

(10) Before revoking or restricting any license granted pursuant to this subpart, the Commission shall mail to the licensee and any sublicensee of record, at the last address filed with the Commission, a written notice of the Commission's intention to revoke or restrict the license, and the licensee and any sublicensee shall be allowed thirty (30) days after the mailing of such notice, or within such period as may be granted by the Commission, to remedy any breach of any covenant or agreement as referred to in paragraph (a)(8)(iii) of this section, or to show cause why the license should not be revoked or restricted.

(11) Subject to the rights reserved to the Government in this section, the licensee shall be granted the nonexclusive rights to make, use, and/or sell the invention in accordance with the terms and conditions specified in the license agreement.

(12) The license may be subject to such other terms and conditions as the Commission may deem in the public interest.

authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, secs. 156, 161 (42 U.S.C. 2186,2201; Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, sec. 201 (42 U.S.C. 5841); 44 U.S.C. 3504 note
source: 38 FR 7318, Mar. 20, 1973, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 10 CFR 81.20