AR 7-16 EMPLOYEE INVENTIONS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06235334
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2021
• Case Number: F-2011-01517
• Publication Date: August 4, 1997

Approved for Release: 2020/03/16 C06235334
Date: 08/04/97 (Regulations may contain various dates)
Category: 7 - Management OPR: OGC
Title: AR 7-16 EMPLOYEE INVENTIONS
This regufation was written 6y the Office of General-Counsel,
16. EMPLOYEE INVENTIONS
(secure).
SYNOPSIS. This regulation documents Agency policy, procedures, criteria, and
reporting requirements for determining rights in and to inventions by an employee
while under the administrative jurisdiction of the Agency. (NOTE: Boldfaced text in
the regulation indicates revisions.)
a. AUTHORITY. Executive Order (E.0.) 10096, dated 23 January 1950, as amended, and
implementing regulations issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at 37 CFR
part 501, establish policies for determining the respective rights of the government and
of employees in and to inventions devised during a period of government employment.
This regulation prescribes procedures whereby Agency employees who devise
inventions will have their rights in and to such inventions determined.
b. DEFINITIONS
(1) "Invention," as defined in E.O. 10096 and used in this regulation, includes any art,
machine, manufacture, design, or composition of matter, or any new and useful
improvement thereof, or any variety of plant which is or may be patentable under the
patent laws of the United States. Many new or innovative ideas, regardless of the subject,
are potentially patentable. Consult with the Office of General Counsel (OGC) for further
guidance.
(2) "Employee" means any government employee performing Agency functions.
c. POLICY
(1) Agency determinations concerning the inventions devised by individuals while employed
by CIA are based on criteria established by E.O. 10096, as amended, and 37 CFR part
501, as described in paragraph d below, and are subject to review and decision by the
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.
(2) The Logistics and Procurement Law Division (L&PLD), OGC, acts for the Director of
Central Intelligence in determining the respective rights of the government and the
inventor in and to any invention created by a government employee while under the
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administrative jurisdiction of this Agency. OGC shall be supported by each
directorate's information resource officer in determining such rights.
d. CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING RIGHTS IN AND TO INVENTIONS.
Determinations of the inventor's rights are based on the following criteria:
(1) The government is entitled to the entire right, title, and interest in and to inventions
created by Agency employees:
(a) During work hours, or
(b) With contributions by the government of facilities, equipment, materials, funds, or
information, or of time or services of other government employees on official duties,
Or
(c) Which bear a direct relation to, or are made in consequence of, the official duties of
the inventor.
(2) If the contribution of the government is insufficient to justify the required assignment to
the government or in any case where the government has insufficient interest in the
invention to obtain ownership, the government will place title to the invention with the
employee but will reserve to the government a nonexclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free
license in the invention with power to grant licenses for all governmental purposes. This
reservation stated in the above terms must appear, where practicable, in any patent,
domestic or foreign, that may be issued on such invention.
(3) The inventor is entitled to the entire right, title, and interest in and to the invention if the
contributions by the government are insufficient to justify the assignment of any rights to
the government.
e. ADMINISTRATION
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