Federal agencies fund billions of dollars in research every year. Some of that research produces inventions. Under a 1980 law called the Bayh-Dole Act, the universities, small businesses, and nonprofits that receive this federal funding can keep ownership of the resulting inventions—provided they meet certain reporting requirements. The theory is straightforward: give researchers and institutions a financial stake in commercializing their discoveries, and more federally funded innovation will reach the public as useful products.