TOOLS IN USE: Wendy Santiago, data rights analyst, Joint Tactical Networking Center Support, uses the DrScan™ tool, Sept. 18, 2023, at Naval Base Point Loma, Harbor Drive Annex in San Diego, California. (Photo by Immanuel Johnson, public affairs officer, JTNC Support)
JTNC developed an intellectual property tool that is expediting the data rights process.
by Joint Tactical Networking Center Data Rights Team and Kathryn Bailey
Underlying every system fielded to the battlefield is its data, and securing the rights to the data can have far-reaching effects on the system’s future. The question of data rights begins with contract negotiations between the government and industry partners. Once the contract is delivered, a government team reviews the data to ensure it contains proper source code markings before formally accepting it.
“If the government does not have adequate rights to use, modify, release, display and/or disclose the data, it may not be able to develop future iterations of the system or integrate it with other systems without paying a substantial fee to its industry partner,” said David Frank, communications systems engineer, Joint Tactical Networking Center (JTNC). “In contrast, if the government does not quickly review and accept the code, it violates contractual acceptance requirements and may incur additional expenses.”
The requirements for marking source code and technical data with a contract submission is laid out in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS). With large source code packages containing hundreds of thousands of lines of code, the process of reviewing data rights markings can be complex and time-consuming, even for seasoned data rights experts.
To facilitate the process the JTNC and its predecessors developed DrScan™, an innovative intellectual property (IP) tool that rapidly scans and organizes large volumes of data. The tool allows DOD IP professionals to more accurately and efficiently assess IP rights and strike the appropriate balance between protecting industry IP and preserving adequate rights for the government on behalf of the DOD.
“It can scan tens of thousands of files for data rights and other markings, in hours versus days, and identifies cautionary markings to alert the IP professionals of specific code or design drawing restrictions, which could significantly restrict and/or delay the government, and cost DOD program managers time and money,” said Wendy Santiago, data rights analyst, JTNC Support.
DrScan™ was developed to identify all of the DFARS data rights categories, including: Unlimited Rights, meaning the government can use the data in any manner for any purpose; Limited Rights, which limits the government’s use of technical data to disclosure only within the government; Restricted Rights, which significantly restricts the government’s use of source code to only specific circumstances laid out in the DFARS; and Government Purpose Rights, meaning the government can use the data within the government, without restriction, and can use the data outside of the government for any government purpose. Another category, Specifically Negotiated License Rights, are negotiated between the government and industry partner.
The tool also looks for patent, trademark, copyright, classification, distribution and trade secret markings.
The tool will soon be available to DOD IP professionals, free of charge, on the Joint Communications Marketplace (JCM), a knowledge repository for tactical communications products and technologies. The JCM is one of several services hosted by the JTNC, which ensures secure, interoperable and resilient tactical capabilities are aligned to modular open architectures in support of service, multi-service and coalition forces.
When the DrScan™ service is made available, government organizations can request a DrScan™ report for contract deliverables by first registering for an account on the JCM, submitting the request, and then uploading their encrypted data to DOD SAFE. A JTNC data rights analyst will then securely scan the data and produce the DrScan™ report, which provides a detailed description of all the markings found in the data packaged grouped by marking categories. Once the government requestor approves the report, the JTNC destroys their copy of the data and DrScan™ report.
As with many automated tools in the DOD’s arsenal, the DrScan™ tool is an aid to, not a replacement for, data reviewers, contract officers and legal counsel, whose expertise in interpreting the data and laws for data rights is critical.
“The strength of the design is that by using the computer to identify, track, report on and sort files, the operator focuses their expertise on the DFARS, contracting and U.S. copyright law, for a thorough and expeditious data rights review,” Frank said.
The JTNC team recently conducted a successful DAU webinar on data rights to hundreds of industry and government partners after garnering interest in the tool from articles in Defense Acquisition magazine, one of which captured a case study on how the JTNC used the tool to find and resolve markings issues in two seminal cases.
Moving forward, the JTNC plans to improve the DrScan™ tool by highlighting markings that are “nonconforming” under the DFARS, converting pictures to text and expanding the tool capabilities, settings and categories to be more effective on data outside of the DOD.
“What begins as thousands of lines on a computer screen can transform into a groundbreaking software system that meets Army modernization priorities,” said Santiago. “The DrScan™ tool, combined with oversight from DOD IP professionals, can ensure the government has sufficient data rights to develop systems that help Soldiers fight and win on the battlefield.”
For more information, go to: https://www.jtnc.mil.
