LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The dissemination of federally funded scientific and technical information (STI) is an important function of all federal agencies. Because of its value, STI can be protected as intellectual property. Under this protection, constraints, controls, and exclusivity may be imposed on the use, reproduction, disclosure, and further dissemination of the information. While protection as intellectual property has always been possible and has been applied to some degree, government policies have changed drastically in recent years to encourage, if not actually require, more intellectual property rights protection of federally funded research and development (R&D) activities. This article discusses some of the reasons behind these changes and the effect of the changes on the more traditional approaches to the dissemination of federally funded STI; it includes predictions as to what may occur in the future. © 1990.