Why Does The US Gov't Get To Patent Research Paid For By Public Tax Dollars?

An anonymous reader links us to a report from The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which came out earlier this year, that highlights how, in 2008, the US government bought in 170 million by licensing federally (i.e., taxpayer-funded) technology and
patents to private companies. It details which agencies are getting how
many patents, showing that the government appears to get, on average,
between 1,000 and 1,500 patents per year. Now, to be clear, I think
it's a good thing that the government is looking to move some of these
technologies into the private sector, but it does raise questions about
why taxpayer funded research gets locked up behind a patent. In the US,
federal government created works are not allowed to be protected by
copyright protections, as people realized that it was ridiculous to
lock up content created by their own government. Why doesn't the same
apply to patents as well? If the goal is really to get the technology
out to the private sector, why lock it up and look to license it? That
makes it more expensive and less accessible. The report highlights how
the government has been ramping up these efforts, such that it grew
"revenues" from this licensing program by 46% from 2004 to 2008. This
is one situation where it seems like a profit-motive might be quite
misplaced.