In 1918, the U.S. Supreme Court held that government contractors could be sued for patent infringement even if their products were manufactured specifically for the U.S. government. Franklin D. Roosevelt, then acting secretary of the Navy, wrote an urgent letter to Congress warning that contractors were hesitant to build equipment for the Navy that could expose them to expensive litigation. Congress responded swiftly, amending federal law to shield contractors from patent suits when they were manufacturing products for the government. That statutory immunity, now codified as 28 U.S.C. § 1498, has protected defense manufacturers for over a century. But a The post The Pentagon Wants Dual-Use Innovation. Patent Law Might Punish It. appeared first on War on the Rocks .