IG: Lab Lost Out on Licensing Revenue After Patent Software Glitch
NS&D Monitor
3/6/2015
A software glitch caused Sandia National Laboratories to miss maintenance payments on 14 patents, forcing the laboratory to lose out on $119,000 in licensing and royalty revenue, the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office said in a report released last week. The 14 patents represented only a small sliver of the 1,540 patents held by the laboratory, and the IG said in the Feb. 27 report that when the lab switched to a new software program to manage its patents, data on the 14 patents became corrupted.
The lab’s patents lapsed, and it reimbursed $112,000 in licensing and royalty payments that had been made by four companies and another $7,000 to an inventor for lost royalty income. The lab was able to pay $1,640 to reinstate one of the 14 lapsed patents. “But for its mistake, [the lab] would have had the right to receive the $112,000 and use it for acceptable purposes to further its Federal mission,” the IG said.
The Inspector General questioned the allowability of the costs, but National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz said in a response to the IG report that the agency had determined the $120,640 costs to be “reasonable, allocable and allowable.” Sandia told the IG that a new software system for patent maintenance would be implemented at the lab later this month. The lab also has hired a company to help it monitor and make future patent payments, the IG said. In his response to the IG report, Klotz also said the Sandia Field Office will include reviews of the lab’s patent maintenance processes into its Integrated Assessment Plan.
