Author Archives: Gerald Barnett

Modern Zombie Narratives

I have been thinking more about innovation as I’ve written the two essays on the history of warfarin.  In those essays, I consider the nature of the narratives that report, or carry, the history of warfarin.   As I work on … Continue reading

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The Policy and the Damage Done

Here is a state law pertaining to employer claims to employee inventions: Sec. 2. Employee rights to inventions ‑ conditions). (1) A provision in an employment agreement which provides that an employee shall assign or offer to assign any of … Continue reading

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On the warfarin path, part 2

The first essay in this series is here. Let’s turn now in our warfarin narratives to a few more developed accounts, including Karl Paul Link’s own published account. [I have corrected a biographical error–Prof. Link’s Ph.D. was from Wisconsin, not … Continue reading

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Creepiness is next to greediness

It is true that some criticisms of university technology transfer offices are misdirected.  Criticism, however, is not merely a sign of ill will or ignorance or organized special interest lulz of everything good.  Criticism also serves the role of debate … Continue reading

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Opening up subject invention reporting

In the last post, I suggested a new reporting for subject inventions.  Nothing like this presently exists.  The ubiquitous university licensing survey aggregates information and therefore becomes useless for tracking subject inventions.  And misleading. 

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Improving periodic reporting

Bayh-Dole is not a perfect law by any means.  But what are the weak points?  Where can things be improved?  Here is one suggestion.  In 35 USC 202(c)(5) funding agreements are required to have language to permit agencies to request … Continue reading

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What No Law Can Do

I’ve worked through a lot of things about Bayh-Dole recently, including looking at the various claims coming forward about how Bayh-Dole works in the context of the Stanford v. Roche case.    In particular I am interested in the amicus briefs … Continue reading

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On the warfarin path

We frame our expectations and our insights by the stories we tell.  This is true as well of the stories of innovation.   How does something new come into the world and reshape things?  We have two primary narratives–bane and boon–one, … Continue reading

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Dealing with university patent accumulation

A while ago I worked through the idea of patent accumulation as a problem for economic development. See What Happens Here Is Excluded Here. The gist is, if one accumulates research patents primarily in one’s own jurisdiction and these go … Continue reading

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When universities come trolling

Here is a question.  Is it a violation of Bayh-Dole for a university to sue a company for infringement of a subject invention for a monetary settlement? Bayh-Dole sets out its objectives in 35 USC 200.  We are not talking … Continue reading

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