By James Darcy
NAVAIR Patuxent River
Public Affairs Department

It is some of the most valuable property within NAVAIR, yet it's often too ethereal to lay your hands on. Intellectual property (IP) - the ideas and innovations that spring from minds at all levels of the organization - has been putting planes in the air for decades. More recently, however, it has been putting money into the coffers of the organization and the pockets of the people with the great ideas.

At NAVAIR Patuxent River, Lakehurst and Orlando, IP is the province of the Invention Evaluation Board (IEB), a panel established in 1998 to identify those ideas that could be patented and marketed outside the organization.

According to patent attorney Ron Billi, who co-leads the IEB with NAWCAD Vice Commander Capt. J.B. Hollyer, the challenge lies not in encouraging innovation but in teaching the innovators to recognize the value of their creations.

Often, dealing in the intangible requires a change in thinking. "We don't always treat IP the way we should," explained Hans Kohler, who is NAVAIR Lakehurst's "ORTA" - the site lead for the Office of Research and Technology Applications. "Our culture is such that people often think of IP as something that can be given away. Yet we wouldn't think about just giving away a government computer or an acre of land to the first person that asked for it."

As ORTA, Kohler serves the IEB by researching the marketability of IP generated at Lakehurst. Nancy Neal and Pat Nimmo fill the same role for NAVAIR Pax River and NAVAIR Orlando, respectively.

Billi points out that not only are Navy employees legally prohibited from giving away IP, they are also required by SECNAV instruction 5870.3C to make a disclosure to the patent counsel any time they've produced an invention.

Members of the IEB, including subject-matter experts from every relevant engineering discipline, then evaluate the invention on a number of criteria to determine whether or not to pursue a patent.

If the idea has enough merit, Billi begins the application process with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), while other IEB members pursue marketing strategies to license the technology to the private sector.

"The process takes about one year from the time the [patent] application is filed to the time you first hear back from the PTO, and then it takes about another year until the patent is issued," Billi said. The costs to the organization for preparing, filing and securing a patent can total several thousand dollars.

The expenditure of time, effort and funds is more than offset, however, by the list of benefits to the Navy, the inventor, and even the American public. "From a protective standpoint," Kohler said, "we don't want to develop a technology, then not protect it and have someone else patent it and sell it back to us. Additionally, we have the opportunity to create a revenue stream that's of great benefit to us and the inventor."

The inventor receives $200 when a patent is filed and $500 when a patent is issued, with collaborating inventors sharing the prize. When a patented technology is licensed, the first $2000 of annual royalties goes back to the inventor. If annual revenues exceed $2000, 20 percent of the excess goes to the inventor and the other 80 percent is directed primarily to the inventor's lab, with a small amount going to offset the costs of the patent program.

Before anyone can benefit from a good idea, of course, would-be inventors must take the first step and disclose their creative works. Billi believes that there are great, patentable innovations already out there just waiting to be harvested.

If you have an idea that you think may qualify as an invention within NAWCAD, you should contact Billi at 301-342-9559 for guidance on your disclosure obligations. The patent contact within NAWCWD is Anthony Servanti, 760-939-4177 and for NAWCTSD it is Bob Adams, (407) 380-8211. NAVAIR patents are handled through the Office of Counsel Intellectual Property Division at 301-757-0573.

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Lakehurst offers innovative solutions to the fleet

Joe Wolfe has never been one to sit and wait for someone else to come up with a solution to a problem. An engineer with NAVAIR Lakehurst's Aircraft Fire Protection Team, Wolfe was honored last week for patenting his second invention (an apparatus for creating a fine liquid mist). Wolfe's first patented invention (a spray nozzle) is in the process of being licensed.

"Normally we look for commercial products to deal with issues as they arise," he said. "But when there's a gap, when an off-the-shelf solution can't be found, we have the resources of the labs."

According to Wolfe, "It's great to use our research and development capabilities to come up with an innovative solution and offer that as an option to the fleet."

Photo by Kathy Bozan, NAVAIR Lakehurst PAO

Caption: Joe Wolfe (left), Code 4.3.5.1, an engineer with the fire protection team is recognized for his contributions to the technology transfer program at Lakehurst. Wolfe received his award last week from Rear Adm. Timothy Heely and Dr. Don McErlean, executive director, NAWCAD.