Author Archives: Gerald Barnett

Patents on ordinary inventions and subject inventions

We have discussed “of a contractor” in Bayh-Dole’s definition of “subject” inventions. But that’s not the only place in Bayh-Dole where we get restrictions that at first might look like mere repetition. Consider this passage from 35 USC 200, the … Continue reading

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Bayh-Dole’s management of title

There is no need for “of the contractor” in the definition of subject invention if a subject invention is just any invention made within the scope of a funding agreement.  The US Supreme Court looked at the definition of subject … Continue reading

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Saving Bush

Over at the Science of Science Policy discussion group, there was a brief flurry regarding Dan Sarewitz’s article in The New Atlantis, “Saving Science.” Here is what I posted in that discussion: Militaristic research directors demanding disciplined obedience don’t appear … Continue reading

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Has Bayh-Dole Been Successful?

I answered a Quora question a while back. I thought I’d repost it here. The question was: Has the Bayh-Dole act been successful? Just over 30 years old, the Bayh-Dole Act has set the path for most research universities and … Continue reading

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Georgia on my mind

At the University of Georgia, the Office of the Vice President for Research has a bizarre reading of the Bayh-Dole Act: The Bayh-Dole Act, passed in 1980, makes it possible for the federal government to assign its patent rights to … Continue reading

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Say so long to your abusive patent policy

Let’s be blunt. The compulsory, comprehensive, portfolio approach to university invention management is a disaster. It has a rate of 0.1% to 0.5% producing new products. It is 100x less effective than the approach it displaced. When you try to … Continue reading

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Change state law

Restoring voluntary assignment for university inventors is the first step in reconditioning university invention management–and putting that management on a road of development consistent with university mores and roles. Voluntary assignment can be accomplished a number of ways. I will … Continue reading

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Common bits of faux Bayh-Dole bullshit

Faux Bayh-Dole has been de facto federal research innovation policy now for thirty-five years. The real Bayh-Dole is sketchy enough, but the faux version is downright vile. Here are some “truths” of faux Bayh-Dole that are, in reality, simply not true. We … Continue reading

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Would an Apple and Broadcom v Caltech case deliver a second pounding to faux Bayh-Dole?

[Yes, you read the title correctly–Apple and Broadcom should be suing Caltech.] In Bayh-Dole, the public covenant that runs with patent rights in subject inventions is not as well developed as it was in the Institutional Patent Agreements. It is … Continue reading

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The Public Research Patent Covenant–Narrative Version

The Institutional Patent Agreement approach to patent rights arising from federally supported research carried with it what we may call a public covenant, a set of conditions that run with each patent on a subject invention that place limits on … Continue reading

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