Uniformed branch as copyright holder?

[ganulv]

This is implicitly a question about organizational structure just as much as it is about IP law (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Intellectual_property), but here goes… In regards to the recent blog posting (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2011/06/army-marine-corps-clashing-ove/), it is often stated that the Marine Corps holds the patent for MARPAT (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Marpat). The patent (http://www.google.es/patents/about?id=G94SAAAAEBAJ) reads that “[t]his invention is owned by the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy and the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.” So is the copyright more properly vested in the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense, or the federal government?

[slapout9]

ganulv, you just stumbled upon what I call the Area 51 of Economics. Government sponsored Scientific research is the Creator of wealth, not private enterprise as is so often proclaimed by the rich people propaganda machine. ganuluv, the next question you should look into is who gets the royalities and how are they distributed.;)

[NY2TX]

I'm going to conclude that the patent (not copyright) was discovered by the Army in the first place under a contract that cedes the rights to the Gov't (the reason it was assigned). I'm not a patent attorney, but this seems pretty straightforward. And BTW, its a design patent.