Assignment
Federal grants for medical research are very competitive. Scientists requesting federal grant money must submit a detailed proposal, including previous work in the area, a detailed description of the work they are seeking funds to support, and an explanation of why the work is important. The grant request is submitted to the National Institute of Health, a federal agency. Some of these are funded, and many are not. All grants are kept on file at the agency.
Your client submitted a request for funds to support research on a new drug for diabetes. The proposal was not funded by the government and the scientist sought funding from a private drug company. The drug company will fund the project but they want the patent rights. They also want to prevent access to the federal grant information because it would give competitors an advantage to know the direction of its work. Your client has asked you two related questions:
A. Can a competitor get a copy of the grant from the NIH?
B. If the government can release the grant, how can your client stop them?