§ 831r. — Patents; access to Patent and Trademark Office and right to copy patents; compensation to patentees.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC831r]
TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 12A--TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
Sec. 831r. Patents; access to Patent and Trademark Office and
right to copy patents; compensation to patentees
The Corporation, as an instrumentality and agency of the Government
of the United States for the purpose of executing its constitutional
powers, shall have access to the United States Patent and Trademark
Office for the purpose of studying, ascertaining, and copying all
methods, formula, and scientific information (not including access to
pending applications for patents) necessary to enable the Corporation to
use and employ the most efficacious and economical process for the
production of fixed nitrogen, or any essential ingredient of fertilizer,
or any method of improving and cheapening the production of
hydroelectric power, and any owner of a patent whose patent rights may
have been thus in any way copied, used, infringed, or employed by the
exercise of this authority by the Corporation shall have as the
exclusive remedy a cause of action against the Corporation to be
instituted and prosecuted on the equity side of the appropriate district
court of the United States, for the recovery of reasonable compensation
for such infringement. The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
shall furnish to the Corporation, at its request and without payment of
fees, copies of documents on file in his office: Provided, That the
benefits of this section shall not apply to any art, machine, method of
manufacture, or composition of matter, discovered or invented by such
employee during the time of his employment or service with the
Corporation or with the Government of the United States.
(May 18, 1933, ch. 32, Sec. 19, 48 Stat. 68; Pub. L. 106-113, div. B,
Sec. 1000(a)(9) [title IV, Sec. 4732(b)(7)], Nov. 29, 1999, 113 Stat.
1536, 1501A-583.)
Amendments
1999--Pub. L. 106-113 substituted ``United States Patent and
Trademark Office'' for ``Patent Office of the United States'' and
``Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office'' for ``Commissioner of
Patents''.
Effective Date of 1999 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 106-113 effective 4 months after Nov. 29, 1999,
see section 1000(a)(9) [title IV, Sec. 4731] of Pub. L. 106-113, set out
as a note under section 1 of Title 35, Patents.
