GENERAL

Intellectual Property Law

The Office of General Counsel provides advice to NSF on a variety of intellectual property issues that come up from time to time.

Patents/Copyrights

Inventions made during NSF-assisted research are governed by the Foundation's standard Patent Rights clause which is invoked by article 21 of our Grant General Conditions and published in section 731.3 of the Grant Policy Manual. Normally, awardees are allowed to retain principal rights to these inventions, provided they disclose them to the Patent Assistant in the Office of the General Counsel. Rights to copyrightable material ("subject writings") created during NSF-assisted activities are governed by article 18 of our Grant General Conditions.

NSF Data Sharing Policy

The Foundation expects its awardees to share results of NSF-assisted research and education projects with others both within and outside the scientific and engineering research and education community. Our sharing policy is stated in article 36 of our Grant General Conditions.

The materials on this website do not constitute legal advice. You should consult with an OGC attorney before acting on or convey to anyone outside NSF any interpretation of these materials. For details, see our disclaimer.