Author Archives: Gerald Barnett

Institutional IP Baksheesh

Here is perhaps the worst conceived and written paragraph in University of Washington policy history.   Seven sentences without the hope of connecting their subject and verbs into a coherent expression.  Read, enjoy.  I’ll work through the finer points in a … Continue reading

Posted in Bozonet, IP, Policy, Technology Transfer | 2 Comments

Time to Reboot the Franchise

I have been working through University of Washington policy on inventions.   One of the interesting–and dismaying–aspects of the Washington policy is its use of conflict of interest policies to route intellectual property ownership to the control of administrators.   I know, … Continue reading

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How the Disease Spread

A theme of this blog recently has been the transformation of faculty work from that of independent scholars working collectively to form a university to that of indentured labor working for management that controls the university.  This is particularly true … Continue reading

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Washington’s little "it’s not a policy change"

Here’s more evidence in the wild about how administrators are warping the Stanford v. Roche decision.  Here it is the University of Washington, sending out a note to faculty about little technical changes in approval forms for consulting, claiming it’s … Continue reading

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The Sea Change

The Chronicle of Higher Education published a note about Stanford v. Roche in June.  It repeats the mantra given out by law firms regarding the decision: “The ruling was also a warning to universities to carefully check the language and … Continue reading

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Innovation Fiction

“Bewilderment, in its ancient and literal sense of being cast away in a trackless wild, was the lot of the explorer….”  Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver (p. 47 in the paperback edition). If you happen to be looking for a framework in … Continue reading

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Transmogrifying Bayh-Dole into University Self-Interest, Wisconsin-style

The University of Wisconsin system provides a template agreement that is meant to satisfy the (f)(2) requirement.  Let’s work through it to see what parts are required by the standard patent rights clause in Bayh-Dole, what parts are inserted by … Continue reading

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Wisconsin offers a little choice

The University of Wisconsin had a strong tradition of faculty ownership of IP and control over research activities.  Faculty negotiated their own sponsored research agreements, for instance, with regard to IP.  Wisconsin wasn’t alone in this.  Until recently, Stanford had … Continue reading

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Universities went wrong early on Bayh-Dole

Here’s 37 CFR 401.14(a)(f) under the heading “Contractor Action to Protect the Government’s Interest”: (2) The contractor agrees to require, by written agreement, its employees, other than clerical and nontechnical employees, to disclose promptly in writing to personnel identified as … Continue reading

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My university, the chapman

You may ask yourself, where does that highway lead to? You may ask yourself, am I right, am I wrong? You may say to yourself, my god, what I have done? “Once in a Lifetime” — Talking Heads Sometimes, the … Continue reading

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