The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a report, written by David P. Leech and John T. Scott, titled Federal Agency Return on Investment in Foreign Patenting. This report details the U.S. federal agencies’ use of foreign patents to protect their intellectual property that was created in their laboratories. The evidence presented in this report supports the view that an agency that obtains only U.S. patents for its inventions may reduce the value of licenses to use the technologies. The report walks through case studies of licensing and commercialization of two federal-agency technologies.

If you are interested in reading the full report, please click here. If you are looking for other policies and reports related to Technology Transfer, please click here.