Section 22-B9809. PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

 

9809.1The Hospital shall honor rights in patents, copyrights, and proprietary information. The CO shall comply with the requirements of District laws and regulations, in addition to the requirements of this section, in acquiring or using these rights.

 

9809.2A contractor shall obtain permission from the lawful owner(s) of copyrighted materials before including all or part of any copyrighted work in any item to be delivered under a contract, unless permission is not required under the fair use or other applicable provisions of District copyright statutes or regulations.

 

9809.3The Hospital shall not unreasonably restrict the commercial use, outside of the performance of the contract with the Hospital, of inventions made while performing Hospital contracts.

 

9809.4The CO shall not refuse to award a contract solely on the basis of a suspicion that the contractor may infringe a patent, unless the contracting officer determines that refusal is in the best interest of the Hospital.

 

9809.5The Hospital shall limit its demands for rights in proprietary information resulting from private developments to those reasonable for present and future use by the Hospital.

 

9809.6The contractor shall hold harmless and indemnify the Hospital, its officers, agents, servants and employees from liability of any nature or kind, including cost and expenses for or on account of any patented or unpatented invention, article, process or appliance manufactured or used in the performance of Hospital contracts, including their use, unless otherwise specifically stipulated in the contract.

 

9809.7The CO shall prescribe standard contract provisions governing patent rights under Hospital contracts in accordance with the provisions of this section.

 

9809.8If the contract permits the contractor to retain title and the contractor elects to retain title to an invention, the Hospital shall have at least a nonexclusive, non-transferable, irrevocable, paid-up license to use or have used, for or on behalf of the Hospital, any invention made in the performance of work under a Hospital contract. The Hospital may have additional rights to sublicense the invention if provided in the contract.

 

9809.9If the contract gives a limited right to the contractor to acquire patent rights, the contractor may request greater rights to an invention within the period specified in the contract. The CO may grant a request for greater rights if the CO determines that the grant of greater rights is in the best interest of the Hospital. In making the determination, the CO shall consider the following objectives:

 

(a)Ensuring that inventions are used in a manner that will promote full and open competition and free enterprise; and

 

(b)Ensuring that the Hospital obtains sufficient rights in Hospital-supported inventions to meet the needs of the Hospital and protect the public against nonuse or unreasonable use of inventions.

 

9809.10If the contract permits the contractor to retain title to an invention and the contractor elects not to retain title, the Hospital may, after consultation with the contractor, grant a request for retention of rights by the inventor.

 

9809.11If a Hospital employee is a co-inventor of an invention made under a contract and the Hospital acquires all or part of the rights to the invention, the CO may take any of the following actions that is consistent with the best interests of the Hospital:

 

(a)Assign all or part of the Hospital’s rights to its employee while retaining for the Hospital any rights set forth herein;

 

(b)Assign all or part of the Hospital’s rights to the contractor for reasonable consideration, after negotiation by the CO of a reasonable consideration;

 

(c)If the contractor is a nonprofit organization or is a certified minority business, assign all or part of the Hospital’s rights without consideration; or

 

(d)Retain the Hospital’s rights.

 

9809.12For purposes of this section, an invention is made in the performance of work under a Hospital contract if it is conceived or first actually produced to practice in the performance of work under a Hospital contract.

 

9809.13The Hospital may acquire title to, or obtain or limited access to, copyrighted materials, materials subject to copyright protection, and proprietary information developed under or used in the performance of contracts.

 

9809.14In accordance with §317(d) of the Procurement Practices Act of 1985 (the “Act”), D.C. Code, 2001 Ed. §2-303.17(d), a bidder or offeror shall designate information contained in a response to the invitation for bids or request for proposals as proprietary or confidential by specifically identifying that information in writing in the bid or proposal.

 

9809.15A bidder or offeror including proprietary or confidential information in its bid or offer shall conspicuously display the following information on the first page of the bid or offer if the bidder or offeror does not want the proprietary or confidential information disclosed to the public for any purpose or used by the Hospital except for evaluation purposes:

 

(a)That the bid or offer includes proprietary or confidential information that shall not be disclosed outside the Hospital and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed, in whole or in part, for any purpose other than to evaluate the bid or proposal;

 

(b)That if a contract is awarded to the bidder or offeror, the Hospital shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose the proprietary or confidential information to the extent provided in the contract;

 

(c)That this restriction does not limit the Hospital’s right to use the proprietary or confidential information if it is obtained from another source without restriction; and

 

(d)That the bidder or offeror has specifically identified, by page number or otherwise, the proprietary or confidential information subject to the restriction.

 

9809.16In addition, the bidder or offeror shall conspicuously mark each separate sheet containing proprietary or confidential information with a notation to the effect that use or disclosure of proprietary or confidential information contained on the sheet is subject to the restriction set forth on the first page of the bid or offer.

 

9809.17The bidder or offeror shall not designate as confidential or proprietary the name of the bidder or offeror, the bid or proposal price, or any information that is not actually proprietary or confidential.

 

9809.18If, after inspection of a bid or proposal, the CO determines that all or any part of the information designated as confidential or proprietary may be subject to disclosure under the D.C. Freedom of Information Act, D.C. Code, 2001 Ed. §§2-531 to 2-539, the CO shall notify the bidder or offeror of that determination and allow the contractor ten (10) days to respond.

 

source

Final Rulemaking published at 41 DCR 4508, 4554 (July 8, 1994).