&gt;  Maybe I&#x27;m just disregarding a lot of patent law, but wouldn&#x27;t it be a better plan to just have all NASA patents open to anyone?<p>I think they&#x27;re learning from university tech transfer programs. A number of universities tried the exact approach you describe. What they found is that companies weren&#x27;t interested in the ideas because of the substantial risk of someone out-developing them. A risk significantly increased by a lack of exclusivity. By patenting them and offering transfer of the patent, they got much better uptake.<p>So this is a case of ideals trading off against reality and results.