Protecting intellectual property

Governs IP rights in federally funded research. Allows grant and contract recipients to retain patent rights to inventions. Government retains a royalty-free license and march-in rights. Critical for any tech company receiving federal R&D funding or SBIR/STTR grants.

The foundational federal law protecting original works of authorship. Copyright attaches automatically upon fixation; registration is not required for protection but is required before suing for infringement and to recover statutory damages.

Created a federal civil cause of action for trade secret misappropriation. Lets companies sue in federal court and seek injunctions, damages, and — in egregious cases — seizure of misappropriated materials.

DoD-specific supplement to the FAR. Contains stricter requirements on technical data rights, software rights, and cybersecurity (CMMC). CMMC program effective November 2025 requires third-party cybersecurity certifications for DoD contractors.

Establishes safe harbors for online service providers against liability for user-uploaded infringing content, provided they implement notice-and-takedown procedures. Critical for any platform hosting user-generated content.

Not a single law but a critical compliance area. Open source licenses create legally binding obligations when you use, modify, or distribute open source software. Key license families: Permissive (MIT, Apache 2.0, BSD — few obligations, allow proprietary use); Weak Copyleft (LGPL, MPL — share-alike requirements apply only to the licensed component); Strong Copyleft (GPL, AGPL — require distributing source code of the entire combined work). AGPL is particularly significant for SaaS companies — network use may trigger copyleft obligations even without distributing software. Every tech company needs an open source policy.

The federal law governing patents for inventions and designs. Establishes the USPTO, defines patentable subject matter, and creates enforcement rights. Patent eligibility for software remains a contested area post-Alice.

Promotes technology transfer from federal laboratories to the private sector. Relevant for tech companies seeking to license federally developed technology or partner with federal labs.

FAR contract clauses governing government rights in technical data and computer software. Determines whether the government receives unlimited, limited, or government-purpose rights. Negotiating these clauses is one of the most consequential IP decisions when entering government contracting.