Ann: Department 13 receives new US Patent, page-23

My take on the backgrounds of the various patents' proprietary rights is that these were already in existence, or in the course of their finalisation, before D13 was formed. This means that proprietary rights belong to their creators, not to D13. Bearing in mind that IP is rarely created overnight, might even take years of research and development.
However, their creators being shareholders/contractors of D13, preferred to license the patents to D13 for the strategic purpose of retaining control and direction of their commercial applications so as to maximise financial returns.
I would do the same if I were as smart as them. Cheers. R.