The U.S. Government’s research and development (“R&D”) spending is on the rise.  For instance, the U.S. Government spent $139 billion in on R&D in FY 2015 and approximately $148 billion in FY 2016.  It is slated to spend as much as $154 billion on R&D in FY 2017.  With this funding comes great opportunities for commercial companies, government contractors, and grant recipients to receive funding to support cutting-edge research.  That said, before entering a contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or other type of funding agreement, entities should consider carefully the risks associated with using government funds to support research.  The most recent issue of Landslide (a publication of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law) details these risks and provides an overview of measures that entities may take to benefit from government funding, while securing the greatest rights possible in any resulting data or inventions.  As discussed in the article, entities should take measures to segregate government-funded research, carefully vet requests for proposals to assess intellectual property clauses, and properly mark deliverables.  Additionally, entities should implement appropriate procedures to ensure inventions are timely disclosed to the government and title to such inventions is elected.  Entities considering accepting government funding and those already engaged in government-funded research would be well advised to consider these and the other topics discussed in the article.  The article can be found here.