Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 1998

Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 1998 - Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (Stevenson-Wydler Act) to revise requirements regarding enumerated authority under a cooperative research and development (R&D) agreement to permit Government laboratories to grant licenses to federally owned inventions for which a patent application was filed before the granting of the license, and directly within the scope of work under such agreement.

(Sec. 3) Rewrites Federal restrictions on the licensing of federally owned inventions. Requires a license applicant to make a commitment to achieve practical utilization of the invention within a reasonable time. Requires such a license to include provisions: (1) retaining a nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license for the Federal agency to practice the invention or have the invention practiced throughout the world by or on behalf of the U.S. Government; (2) requiring periodic reporting on use of the invention by the licensee only to the extent necessary to enable the Federal agency to determine whether the licensee is complying with license terms; and (3) empowering the Federal agency to terminate the license if the licensee has been found by a competent authority to have violated the Federal antitrust laws in connection with its performance under the license agreement. Prohibits an agency from granting an exclusive or partially exclusive license on a federally-owned invention unless: (1) it has provided 15 days' public notice and considered all comments received; and (2) the person requesting the license has supplied to the agency a plan for development and-or marketing of the invention. Exempts from these requirements the licensing of any inventions made under an R&D agreement.

(Sec. 4) Makes certain technical amendments to: (1) the Bayh-Dole Act with regard to Government acquisition of the rights of a private party to a federally owned invention; and (2) the Stevenson-Wydler Act relating to, among other things, the distribution of royalties received by Federal agencies.

(Sec. 6) Requires each Federal agency with a federally funded laboratory that has one or more R&D agreements under the Stevenson-Wydler Act to report to the Committee on National Security of the National Science and Technology Council (Committee) and the Congress on the general policies and procedures that agency uses to gather and consider the views of other agencies on joint work statements, or R&D agreements in the case of certain laboratories, with respect to major proposed R&D agreements that involve critical national security technology or may have a significant impact on domestic or international competitiveness.

Directs the Committee to: (1) determine the adequacy of existing procedures and methods for interagency coordination and awareness with respect to R&D agreements; and (2) establish and distribute to appropriate Federal agencies specific criteria to indicate the necessity for gathering and considering agency views on such statements or agreements, as well as additional procedures, if any, for carrying out such gathering and considering.

Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Act to provide for increased flexibility for Federal laboratory partnership intermediaries.

Directs the General Accounting Office to study and report to the Congress on the potential risks to the U.S. biotechnology industry relating to biological deposits in support of biotechnology patents. Requires the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to consider the recommendations of such study in drafting regulations affecting biological deposits.

Revises Federal patent law to authorize, upon timely request, the treatment of a provisional application as a written application, notwithstanding the absence of a claim. Applies current statutory abandonment treatment to a provisional application 12 months after the application filing date only if such a request is not made.