§ 6.1 Definitions.

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Title 43 CFR: Public Lands: Interior › Part 6: PATENT REGULATIONS › Subpart A: Inventions by Employees › § 6.1: § 6.1 Definitions.

This text was captured on Aug 14, 2026. It is a snapshot, not a live feed, so check the official code before relying on it.

Text

As used in this subpart:

(a) The term

Department

means the Department of the Interior.

(b) The term

Secretary

means the Secretary of the Interior.

Solicitor

means the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, or anyone authorized to act for him.

(d) The term

Commissioner

means the Commissioner of Patents, or any Assistant Commissioner who may act for the Commissioner of Patents.

(e) The term

invention

means any new and useful art, process, method, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, or any new variety of plant, or any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture, which is or may be patentable under the laws of the United States.

(f) The term

employee

as used in this part includes a part time consultant, a part time employee or a special employee (as defined in 18 U.S.C. 202) of the Department insofar as inventions made during periods of official duty are concerned, except when special circumstances in a specific case require an exemption in order to meet the needs of the Department, each such exemption to be subject to the approval of the Commissioner.

(g) The term

governmental purpose

means the right of the Government of the United States (including any agency thereof, state, or domestic municipal government) to practice and have practiced (made or have made, used or have used, sold or have sold) throughout the world by or on behalf of the Government of the United States.

(h) The

making of the invention

means the conception or first actual reduction to practice of such invention.

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