whatbindsCheck your order

Clauses · FAR · Data rights

FAR 52.227-13 Patent Rights-Ownership by the Government

Does the regulation require it to flow down?

Yes

(i)(1): 'include the substance of the patent rights clause required by FAR subpart 27.3 in all subcontracts for experimental, developmental, or research work'; the prime may not demand rights in the sub's inventions as consideration for the subcontract

Form
list from paragraph (i)(1) — the appropriate subpart 27.3 patent clause, not necessarily this one
Reaches
first tier (each tier gets the clause appropriate to its own case)

Checked against acquisition.gov on 2026-08-04 · edition DEC 2007 (Basic; Alt I JUN 1989, Alt II DEC 2007) · base v0.9.3 Read the text ↗

What it makes you produce

4 items for your checklist, slowest first.

  1. Something you write3

    Days to weeks, and nobody outside your company has to agree to it.

    • A written disclosure of the subject invention to the buyer

      Owed when an inventor reports it internally — two months from that report

      52.227-13(e)(2)
    • Interim reports and a final report

      Owed when every twelve months during the work, and within three months of completing it

      52.227-13(e)(3)
    • Written agreements binding your technical employees to report promptly what they invent

      Owed when you employ technical staff on the work

      52.227-13(e)(4)

  2. Something you fill in and send back

    Hours, once you know which one is missing.

    • The instruments assigning title to the Government, worldwide

      Owed when a subject invention is made under the work — this clause allocates ownership to the Government from the start

      52.227-13(b)(1)

When it is used

Goes into R&D contracts where the government retains title — the 27.303 exception cases (exceptional circumstances, foreign contractor with no place of business in the US, etc.). Under (i)(1), R&D subcontracts get the appropriate subpart 27.3 patent clause — a small/nonprofit sub gets 52.227-11 and keeps the right to its own invention, even with the prime under government title.

Read closely

Paragraph (i)(1) sends a small business or nonprofit supplier to FAR 52.227-11, where ownership stays with the company that invented; an order carrying this clause instead is a different allocation of the same inventions. Paragraph (g) allows payment to be withheld while the reports are outstanding, so the paperwork here has a cash consequence.

The 6 templates that name it, with the line
143CORPDOC 3A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Fixed Price Non-Commercial Items under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 224155CORPDOC 4A — FAR/DFARS Flowdown Provisions for Cost-Reimbursement/T&M Subcontracts under a DoD Prime ContractLockheed Martinline 245233RTX Flowdown of U.S. Government Contract Clauses Under U.S. Government ContractsRTXline 1288240L3Harris LGL-50.F1 — General T&C and Flowdown Clauses for Other Than Commercial Products/Services under a U.S. Government ContractL3Harrisline 2042273BAE Systems Inc. USGOVA — FAR/DFARS Flow Down Provisions for Subcontracts/Purchase Orders under a U.S. Government (DoD) Prime ContractBAE Systemsline 599178AAR Component Services NY — U.S. Government Contract FAR and DFARS Clauses Incorporated by ReferenceAAR Corpline 1131

Source: acquisition.gov, FAR 52.227-13 and 27.303 (verified 2026-08-04)

This is research, not legal advice. It states what the regulation says about this clause and cites the paragraph behind it. It does not rule on your order, and it does not rule on whether a prime's markings are correct.