10 U.S.C. § 2386
Section 2386 · Copyrights, patents, designs, etc.; acquisition
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case Wyden v. Commissioner of Patents & Trademarks (1986)
Most recently applied in 891 F. Supp. 1134 - Robishaw Engineering, Inc. v. United States (June 1995)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Funds appropriated for a military department available for making or procuring supplies may be used to acquire any of the following if the acquisition relates to supplies or processes produced or used by or for, or useful to, that department:
(1) Copyrights, patents, and applications for patents.
(2) Licenses under copyrights, patents, and applications for patents.
(3) Design and process data, technical data, and computer software.
(4) Releases for past infringement of patents or copyrights or for unauthorized use of technical data or computer software.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The words “equipment, and materials” are omitted as covered by the word “supplies”. The word “hereafter” is omitted as executed. The words “may be used” are substituted for the words “shall * * * be available”. The words “if the acquisition relates to” are substituted for 31:649b (1st 8 words of last sentence). In clauses (1), (2), and (4), the word “patents” is substituted for the words “letters patent”.
Amendments
1996—Par. (3). Pub. L. 104–106 amended par. (3) generally, substituting “Design and process data, technical data, and computer software” for “Technical data and computer software”.
1994—Pars. (3), (4). Pub. L. 103–355 added pars. (3) and (4) and struck out former pars. (3) and (4) which read as follows:
“(3) Designs, processes, and manufacturing data.
“(4) Releases, before suit is brought, for past infringement of patents or copyrights.”
1960—Pub. L. 86–726 inserted “or copyrights” after “patents” in cl. (4).