10103245D
HOUSE BILL NO. 716
Offered January 13, 2010
Prefiled January 12, 2010
A BILL to amend and reenact §2.2-2822 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to intellectual property created by state employees.
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Patron-- Peace
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Referred to Committee on Science and Technology
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 2.2-2822 of the Code of Virginia is
amended and reenacted as follows:
§2.2-2822. Ownership and use of intellectual property
developed by certain public employees; Creative Commons copyrights.
A. Patents For purposes of this section, "intellectual property" means patents, copyrights or,
trademarks, and any materials that were potentially patentable
or copyrightable or work product
protected under federal or state intellectual property laws.
B. Intellectual
property developed by a state
employee during working hours or, within the scope of his
employment,
or when using state-owned or state-controlled facilities shall be the property
of the Commonwealth.
BC. The Secretary of
Administration, in consultation with the Secretary of Technology, shall
establish policies a written policy, subject to
the approval of the Governor, regarding the protection and release of patents and copyrights intellectual
property owned by the Commonwealth. Such policies policy
shall include, at a minimum, the following:
1. A
policy granting Grant state agencies the authority over the protection and
release of patents and
copyrights intellectual
property created by employees
of the agency. Such policy shall authorize state agencies to release all potentially
copyrightable materials under the Creative Commons or Open Source Initiative
licensing system, as appropriate.,
provided that the
agency adopts an intellectual property policy consistent
with the written policy developed
by the Secretary of Administration pursuant to this section;
2. A
provision authorizing state Require
agencies to seek patent protection only in those instances
where the agency reasonably determines the patent has significant a commercial value that, at a
minimum, exceeds the cost of obtaining the
patent. The Within 30 days of submitting a patent application, the responsible state agency shall file with the Secretary
a summary of the expected
commercial value of the patent., the cost to the agency to develop the patentable work, the expected cost of the patent application,
and the expected value such patent will add to the
agency or the Commonwealth;
3. A procedure
authorizing state Authorize
agencies to determine
whether to license or transfer to a state employee any
interest in potentially
patentable material intellectual
property developed by that
employee during work hours, within the scope
of his employment, or when using state-owned or state-controlled facilities,
as well as to determine the terms of such license or transfer.;
4. A procedure
authorizing state Authorize
agencies to determine whether
to license or transfer to a private entity any interest in potentially patentable material intellectual property
developed by that agency, as well as to determine the terms of such license or
transfer;
5. Authorize the
use of Creative Commons and Open
Source Initiative licensing systems,
as appropriate; and
6.
Include a series of guidelines to assist agencies in developing agency-specific intellectual property policies.
CD. Nothing in this section
shall be construed to limit access to public records as provided in the
Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§2.2-3700 et seq.).
DE. This section shall not apply
to employees of public institutions of higher education who shall be subject to
the patent and copyright policies of the institution employing them.
F.
A state agency that licenses or transfers any interest in intellectual property to a state employee or private entity shall
submit an annual report to the Secretary of Administration that
includes a general description of the intellectual property, the
terms of the license or transfer,
and the amount paid to the agency.
2. That the Secretary of Administration, in consultation
with the Secretary of Technology, shall submit a final copy of the intellectual
property policy and guidelines required pursuant to this act to the House
Committee on Science and Technology, the Senate Committee on General Laws and
Technology, and the Joint Commission on Technology and Science no later than
December 1, 2010.
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