The “Genesis” Protocol: How the New Executive Order Rewrites the Rules of IP Strategy

On November 24, 2025, the White House issued the “Genesis Mission” Executive Order, formally re-entering the federal government into the race for AI and scientific modeling (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/11/launching-the-genesis-mission/). While the headlines focus on politics, they miss the mechanics. For IP architects and business leaders, this Order isn’t just a policy statement; it is a market condition.

The government appears to be repositioning itself, from Regulator to Platform through expanded federal data access, and potentially into an Aggressive Customer via 28 U.S.C. § 1498. Even if this shift isn’t certain, companies that cling to the old IP playbook risk missing the upside or being unprepared for the downside.

The “Open Data” Subsidy: Ground Truth as a Service

The Genesis Mission signals an intent for agencies to expand access to federal data resources to support training “foundation models” for science and engineering. If implemented, this effectively operates as a multi-billion-dollar R&D subsidy for the private sector.

We are entering an era of World Models, AI systems that simulate physical reality rather than just predict text. This aligns with trends in industry, including initiatives like Jeff Bezos’s Project Prometheus, which aims to model physical systems for engineering, energy, and materials.

• The Architect’s Opportunity: Private industry no longer needs to burn capital recreating what federal agencies already possess. By using government data as the “Ground Truth,” startups and universities can shift from expensive data generation to high-value model validation and optimization.

  
  

• The Economic Shift: This moves AI from an OpEx conversation about cost savings to a CapEx conversation about building new asset classes. We move from automating emails to engineering the next generation of fusion reactors and advanced materials.

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Rethinking Alice: Rehabilitating the Asset Class

If the United States intends to compete in AI and scientific modeling, it cannot afford to let American innovation languish in “abstract idea” purgatory.

For more than a decade, Alice v. CLS Bank has made software and AI patents difficult to secure, often categorizing them as unpatentable abstractions. This friction is untenable. You cannot build a national-mission technology stack when the underlying assets struggle to obtain protection.

• The Architect’s Prediction: Expect increased pressure on the USPTO to clarify examiner guidance, particularly where national priorities such as science, energy, and defense are implicated. Guidance cannot override the Supreme Court, but it can shape how examiners evaluate AI models, simulation tools, and algorithmic methods.

  
  

• The Move: Companies should stop assuming their AI innovations are unpatentable. As the asset class is clarified, the value of a properly claimed and granted AI patent is poised to rise sharply.

  
  

The “Nuclear Option”: 28 U.S.C. § 1498 (Maybe)

Section 1498 is the quiet statute that keeps General Counsels awake at night, yet it may be central to the Genesis Mission’s speed.

The law gives the federal government a powerful “government use” authority often analogized to eminent domain for patented technology. If the government needs a patented tool, it can use it, or authorize a contractor to use it, without prior permission as long as it pays reasonable compensation. That compensation is later litigated in the Court of Federal Claims; injunctions are off the table.

• The Competition Trap: If Company A and Company B both work on fusion via this program, and Company A refuses a critical license, the government can authorize Company B to use the necessary patents under the protection of § 1498.

  
  

• The Strategy: You cannot block the government with an injunction. Instead, you must architect your value around implementation, integration, know-how, manufacturing pathways, and data pipelines. The patent can be compelled, but the system cannot.

  
  

The “Data Warehouse” Pivot

If the government is becoming an open-data platform, private companies must decide if they are a Fortress or a Library.

Most organizations sit on massive internal datasets producing zero yield. The Genesis Mission is a signal that dormant data is becoming a strategic asset class.

• The Equity Play: Rather than hoarding data, companies can structure deals where they contribute derived or low-fidelity datasets to partners in exchange for equity in the resulting models.

  
  

• The Standard: Set the industry baseline with controlled releases while keeping high-fidelity or proprietary data as a trade secret.

  
  

Conclusion

The Genesis Mission suggests the federal government is willing to reshape traditional rules to accelerate technological development. Private industry must do the same. The winners won’t be the ones hoarding their IP. They will be the ones who architect assets to leverage government scale while protecting the pieces that no statute can seize.