[awelkie]

Ah good catch! The reason I thought the patent was assigned to the Smart company was because they list it in their Wefunder page[0] (under the heading "Key Accomplishments"). But actually all that's stated on that page is that "multiple patents protect this innovation", they don't actually claim that they have the patents.

I'm still curious how the licensing from NASA works. Do they typically grant a monopoly to certain companies or can multiple competing companies license this technology?

[0]: https://wefunder.com/the.smart.tire.company

[dpiers]

It depends. NASA will file a notice of intent to grant an exclusive or partial license - you can see the notices here[1].

In this case it seems the patent is still available for anyone to license[2]. They have special licensing terms for startups that are pretty favorable[3].

1: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/search?conditions%...

2: https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/LEW-TOPS-99

3: https://technology.nasa.gov/startup