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TITLE VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED MATTERS

Subtitle C — Amendments to General Contracting Authorities, Procedures, and Limitations

DHNDAA Section

House  Armed Services Report 110-652

SEC. 825. CLARIFICATION OF STATUS OF GOVERNMENT RIGHTS IN THE DESIGNS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE VESSELS, BOATS, CRAFT, AND COMPONENTS THEREOF.

(a) In General- Chapter 633 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

`Sec. 7317. Status of Government rights in the designs of vessels, boats, and craft, and components thereof

`(a) In General- Government rights in the design of a vessel, boat, or craft, and its components, including the hull, decks, superstructure, and all shipboard equipment and systems, shall be determined solely as follows:

`(1) In the case of a vessel, boat, craft, or component procured through a contract, in accordance with the provisions of section 2320 of this title.

`(2) In the case of a vessel, boat, craft, or component procured through an instrument not governed by section 2320 of this title, by the terms of the instrument (other than a contract) under which the design for such vessel, boat, craft, or component, as applicable, was developed for the Government.

`(b) Construction of Superseding Authorities- This section may be modified or superseded by a provision of statute only if such provision expressly refers to this section in modifying or superseding this section.'.

(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 633 of such title is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

`7317. Status of Government rights in the designs of vessels, boats, and craft, and components thereof'.

SECTION 841--CLARIFICATION OF STATUS OF GOVERNMENT RIGHTS IN THE DESIGNS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE VESSELS, BOATS, CRAFT, AND COMPONENTS THEREOF

This section would add a new section, section 7317, to title 10, United States Code, to provide that the sole legal authority determining government rights in the designs of vessels, boats, craft, and components thereof, including hulls, decks, and superstructures is either section 2320 of title 10, United States Code, or the contract, grant, or cooperative agreement under which the item was developed. This section would prohibit any claims of exclusive private ownership of such designs under the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act (chapter 13 of title 17, United States Code).

Senate Armed Services Report 110-335

The committee recommends a provision that would affirm that the government's rights in the designs of vessels, boats, craft, and components developed for the Department of Defense (DOD) using public funds in whole or in part are governed exclusively by the requirements of section 2320 of title 10, United States Code or, in certain cases, the agreement pursuant to which the development was undertaken.

Section 2320 provides that: (1) in the case of items developed by a contractor or subcontractor exclusively with government funds, the government has unlimited technical data rights; and (2) in the case of items developed with mixed government and private funding, rights in technical data are determined by negotiation and generally include government-purpose rights. The continued application of section 2320 and the DOD implementing regulations should ensure that DOD is not required to purchase the same data rights more than once.