NASA officials respond to security concerns over software IP auction

GREENBELT, Md., 14 March 2012.NASA officials have responded to aerospace and defense industry pundits and executives involved in matters of national security, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) concerned about NASA’s decision to auction off satellite software patent lots. Will placing federal intellectual property (IP) on the international stage for public/commercial/international consumption open up the nation to growing cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, and cyber security concerns?

NASA officials explain:

“All the standard licensing policies still apply. NASA will only be licensing to U.S. organizations, who will still have to submit the background info required of all licensees of federal IP as required under 37CFR 404. The onus is placed on the licensee to comply with ITAR & Export Control. They are also required to submit annual reports outlining commercialization steps taken and any sales made.”

NASA officials previously revealed their upcoming participation in the 15th ICAP Ocean Tomo IP Auction. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center patent lots—including technologies related to automated software generation, autonomic computing architectures, and autonomic management of environmental monitoring systems—are scheduled to be auctioned off 29 March 2012 in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

Avionics Intelligence has been following and reporting on this heavily debated topic. For more, read:

The original article at http://www.avionics-intelligence.com/articles/2012/03/nasa-auction-satellite.html

A matter of national security: federal IP on the international stage: http://www.avionics-intelligence.com/articles/2012/03/a-matter-of.html