Category Archives: History

“Government” rights in federally supported inventions, 1

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Bayh-Dole requires federal agencies to use a patent rights clause that includes a provision under which contractors who obtain ownership of a patentable invention made in the performance of work under a federal funding agreement and elect to retain that … Continue reading →

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A clever misrepresentation at the origin of Bayh-Dole

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Let’s see if we can isolate the origin of the Bayh-Dole Act. In about four minutes, you will read the following again: The roots, then, of Bayh-Dole are to be found in a mischaracterization of the Harbridge House report of … Continue reading →

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28,000 federal patents and the monopoly meme went into a bar, 3

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Howard Forman, a long-time patent attorney in the chemical industry turned federal employee, introduced the 28,000 unused federal patents meme into Bayh-Dole rhetoric in his congressional testimony in 1976. Senator Bayh includes Forman’s meme in his introduction of S. 414, … Continue reading →

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28,000 federal patents and the monopoly meme went into a bar, 2

Posted on November 1, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Howard Forman’s 1976 testimony is where the 28,000 patents meme enters what will become the Bayh-Dole rhetoric. Senator Bayh uses Forman’s meme when he introduces S. 414 in 1979: When the Government decides to retain patent rights on these inventions … Continue reading →

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Patent agreements in Federal Procurement Regulations and Bayh-Dole, 2

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

If we return for a moment to O’Connor’s article–it is a great read for what it aims to do, but for O’Connor’s theme of abstract mistaken assumptions rather than providing a specific account of Latker’s lack of drafting ability–there is … Continue reading →

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Patent agreements in Federal Procurement Regulations and Bayh-Dole, 1

Posted on October 17, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Sean O’Connor starts an excellent article that gives a detailed account of history behind the Bayh-Dole Act (“Mistaken Assumptions: the Roots of Stanford v. Roche in Post-War Government Patent Policy“) this way: The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 was built on a … Continue reading →

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IP Laws for Dragons

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

On Quora, I was asked to answer this question: Do US intellectual property laws stills serve society or just corporations and countries that are large and rich? Historically, patents have been the domain of countries (and city states) and the … Continue reading →

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WARF, Vitamin D, and the Public Interest, 3

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

The appeals court in Vitamin Technologists sets up the case for compulsory licensing of inventions owned by public universities as instruments of state governments. That is, the appeals court establishes the basis for public march-in when a state owns a … Continue reading →

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WARF, Vitamin D, and the Public Interest, 2

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

We have worked through a 1945 appeals court reasoning about the University of Wisconsin’s president’s refusal to allow the licensing of an invention beneficial to public health for use in food products that might compete with State of Wisconsin dairy … Continue reading →

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WARF, Vitamin D, and the Public Interest, 1

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

In the 1940s, WARF was basking in the income from licensing its flagship patents–on a way to irradiate food products to produce in them vitamin D. (For an interesting account with lots of details, see Rima D. Apple (a University … Continue reading →

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