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Privacy Act System of Records: Invention Reports Submitted to the EPA, EPA-38

[excerpted from: Federal Register: February 22, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 36)]

System Name: Invention Reports Submitted to the EPA.

System Location: Office of General Counsel, Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460. Invention reports from contractors, subcontractors, grantees, and cooperative agreement recipients are submitted to and maintained on behalf of EPA by the Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, in the Extramural Invention Information Management System (code-named Edison).

Categories of Individuals Covered by the System: EPA employees and employees of contractors, subcontractors, grantees, cooperative agreement recipients (40 CFR part 30), and parties to cooperative research and development agreements (15 U.S.C. 3710a) who have submitted invention reports to EPA.

Categories of Records in the System: Invention reports, patent applications, patents, patent assignments, licenses, procurement requests, Government purchase orders, and other documents relevant to inventions made under EPA sponsorship.

Authority for Maintenance of the System (includes any revisions or amendments): Executive Order 9865 (June 14, 1947), Executive Order 10096 (Jan. 23, 1950), 35 U.S.C. Ch. 18 (Patent Rights in Inventions Made with Federal Assistance), 37 CFR parts 401, 404, and 501; 40 CFR part 30, 48 CFR parts 27 and 52; 15 U.S.C. 3710a.

Purpose(s): Records are maintained for the Purpose (s) of documenting inventions made under EPA sponsorship, including filing patent applications, determining rights to inventions, licensing inventions, and ascertaining inventorship and priority of invention.

Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories of Users, and the Purposes of Such Uses: General routine uses A, D, E, F, G, H, I, and K apply to this system. Records may also be disclosed:

  1. To scientific personnel who possess the expertise to understand the invention and evaluate its importance to the Government and/or the public.
  2. To contract patent counsel and their employees retained by the Agency for patent searching, preparation and prosecution of United States and foreign patent applications.
  3. To Government agencies that we contact regarding possible use, interest in or ownership rights in our inventions.
  4. To technology assistance personnel, technology evaluators, technology finders, and prospective licensees who may further make the invention available to the public through evaluation, promotion, sale, use, or publication.
  5. To parties, such as supervisors of inventors, whom we contact to determine ownership rights, and to people contacting us to determine the Government's ownership.
  6. To the United States and foreign Patent and Trademark Offices when we file U.S. and foreign patent applications.

Policies and Practices For Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, Retaining and Disposing of Records in the System:

  • Storage: Individual file folders in file cabinets and indexed on computer tracking system.

  • Retrievability: By inventor's name, case identification number, and patent application number or patent number.

  • Safeguards: Computer records are maintained in a secure, password protected computer system. Paper records are maintained in lockable file cabinets. All records are maintained in secure, access-controlled areas or buildings.

  • Retention and Disposal: The records are maintained for fifteen years after completion or termination of action on the disclosed invention, such as issuance of a patent. The records are maintained at EPA for approximately three and are then sent to a Federal Records Center for the remainder of the applicable retention period.

System Manager(s) and Address: General Counsel, Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.

Notification Procedures: Any individual who wants to know whether this system of records contains a record about him or her, who wants access to his or her record, or who wants to contest the contents of a record, should make a written request to the System Manager.

Access Procedure: Requesters will be required to provide adequate identification, such as a driver's license, employee identification card, or other identifying document. Additional identification procedures may be required in some instances.

Contesting Procedure: Requests for correction or amendment must identify the record to be changed and the corrective action sought. Complete EPA Privacy Act procedures are set out in 40 CFR Part 16.

Record Source Categories: Invention report submitters and their supervisors; other persons with knowledge of the invention or expertise in the particular area of the invention; EPA Patent Counsel; EPA contractors who have searched the invention, prepared a patent application on the invention and/or otherwise performed work relating to a patent application; and the United States and foreign patent offices.

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