This training module will explore the
critical importance of you . The Air
Force scientist or engineer protecting
Air Force intellectual property and
examine the four most common means of
protecting Air Force I P .
Transitioning new capabilities to the
warfighter is an important goal for all
air force scientists and engineers .
However , innovations by air force
researchers must first be transferred
to industry and manufactured before
they can be procured for warfighter use .
The process of moving inventions from
air force research and development to
industry is known as technology
transfer . But what
is actually transferred to industry ?
The answer is intellectual property
commonly known as I P as the name
implies intellectual property as a
product of the mind , think of the aha
moment of invention and the further
refinement of that breakthrough idea .
When these inventive ideas are
protected , they become intellectual
property . We begin with the three
critical reasons why you should protect
Air Force intellectual property .
First , industry partners typically
require robust I P protection in order
to justify the substantial investment
needed to transform early stage
innovations into finished products
without I P protection , especially
patents , other businesses can simply
copy products and make it difficult for
the original company to recoup its
investment in the technology . If the
Air Force does not properly protect its
inventions , most businesses will not
be interested in commercializing those
innovations . Second , protecting
intellectual property , safeguards the
U S taxpayers investment in air Force
research and development . Unless the
Air Force properly identifies and
protects its inventions . Private
industry could claim ownership of these
inventions when companies file their
own patents or develop proprietary
technical data packages incorporating
air Force innovations . They may secure
sole source contracts and charge a
premium on products and services
delivered through defense acquisitions .
In this scenario , both the Air Force
and the U S taxpayer paid twice . First ,
they pay to develop the technology and
second , they pay a premium to use the
inventions they should rightly own .
When the Air Force protects its
inventions , its safeguards against
this double payment . In fact ,
protecting Air Force inventions may
reduce the cost of procurement by
encouraging competition in the
marketplace . Finally , air force
licensing activities create value for
the nation products based on Department
of Defense inventions that are licensed
to industry , generate approximately
$3.3 billion dollars a year in
economic output . Intellectual property
drives our knowledge economy .
According to the us patent and
trademark office , nearly 40% of our
nation's gross domestic product is
attributable to IP-based industries .
This is the largest such percentage in
the world and is a key factor in the
long standing economic and military
supremacy of our nation . The
potentially high value of intellectual
property is well illustrated by Nortel ,
a multinational telecommunications
company , Nortel went bankrupt and
ceased operations in 2009 . However ,
two years later , it sold its patent
portfolio for $4.5
billion . How can you the Air
force scientist or engineer protect our
nation's investment in defense ,
research and development . There are
four primary means of protecting air
force intellectual property . The first
is the invention disclosure , the Air
Force must be made aware of your new
innovation in order to determine the
proper means of protection . Second
is patenting . If your invention
disclosure meets certain criteria , the
Air Force may choose to pursue a patent
on your work . Patents , protect your
innovation with a legally enforceable
fence patent protection which
originated in the U S Constitution
clearly identifies Air Force inventions
and prevents private industry from
charging the Air Force twice for its
own inventions . Next is the
non disclosure agreement N D A s are
legal contracts under which technical
communication with non governmental
parties may be conducted . An N D A
identifies proprietary information that
the Air Force would like to share with
the company but limits the company's
ability to use the information or share
it with a third party N D A s are often
used in technology transfer efforts to
determine if there is enough interest
from a company to license and Air Force
innovation or conduct collaborative
research with Air Force s and ease
under a cooperative research and
development agreement , also known as a
creator . Finally , material
transfer agreements and information
transfer agreements are legal contracts
specifically designed to share device ,
prototypes , chemicals , biological
materials , software or other such
items with a partner for testing ,
evaluation and basic research purposes
like a nondisclosure agreement . M T A
s and I T A s protect Air Force
Intellectual property by limiting what
the partner may do with the provided
materials including prohibiting reverse
engineering or filing a patent on the
work . Transitioning Air Force
innovations to the war fighter begins
with you disclosing your inventions and
protecting the taxpayers investment in
your work . You play an essential role
in achieving the Air Force mission .
When you actively protect innovations
and participate fully in technology
transfer activities . Do you have
questions about intellectual property
or protecting Air Force innovations ?
Talk to your order or technology
transfer manager or email a F dot tech
transfer at us dot AF dot Mil . For
further information .