Author Archives: Gerald Barnett

On Technology Transfer Metrics, 4: Technology transfer and technology change

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

We have been talking university technology transfer metrics. First, that there aren’t any metrics. No one bothers to collect them or report them. Instead we get proxies of activity–number of patents, number of licenses. Once one has patents, then one … Continue reading →

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Bayh-Dole Compliance

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

A law firm, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, PLLC, has posted an article on Bayh-Dole compliance written by attorney John Covert, “Patent Prosecution Tool Kit: Federally Funded Inventions and Compliance with the Bayh-Dole Act.” The advice given here is typical, … Continue reading →

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On Technology Transfer Metrics, 3: Money

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

Universities don’t track their transfers, the federal government does not track university transfers, and professional organizations and nonprofits do not track university transfers. Law firms don’t track university transfers. Venture capital firms don’t track university transfers. Pretty much anyone who … Continue reading →

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On Technology Transfer Metrics, 2: Management

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

There are uses for metrics in business. One is to make management decisions. Consider this repeated bit of nonsense–you can’t manage what you don’t measure. There’s a veneer of truth in that, along the lines of “if you measure it, … Continue reading →

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On Technology Transfer Metrics, 1: Issues

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

Let’s follow up on the fact that there’s no publicly available–free–data source to track university to industry technology transfer. There’s no non-free data source to track such transfer, either. You would think there would be. To get at metrics, let’s … Continue reading →

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Freely available data resources to track US university technology transfer

Posted on July 15, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

I answered a Quora question. Here it is. Are there any freely available data resources to track technology transfer activity between universities and commercial businesses in the US? Here’s my answer. No. And that’s quite amazing. Most universities publish an … Continue reading →

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A major law firm’s new FAQ on Bayh-Dole, 4: More Mindless Administrative Compliance

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

We are nearly done with this FAQ from a major law firm purporting to give advice to small companies regarding Bayh-Dole. We are working through a list of 12 administrative compliance steps singled out as the essence of the law–those … Continue reading →

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A major law firm’s new FAQ on Bayh-Dole, 3: Mindless Administrative Compliance

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

We are working through a FAQ on Bayh-Dole that doesn’t hesitate to delight and entertain with compliance porn. Remember, the FAQ started out with the claim that Bayh-Dole was intended to “provide incentives to promote commercialization”–which isn’t rightly defensible (there’s … Continue reading →

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A major law firm’s new FAQ on Bayh-Dole, 2: Subject inventions

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

[expanded 2/28/2022 with a further discussion of contractor patenting and some editing for clarity] We are working through a sparkling fresh FAQ on Bayh-Dole by a major law firm, apparently directed at small companies fool enough to consider taking SBIR … Continue reading →

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A major law firm’s new FAQ on Bayh-Dole, 1: What is Bayh-Dole?

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

Wilson Sonsini, a big law firm, just published “Basics of the Bayh-Dole Act: FAQs.” The document appears to be directed at companies getting SBIR/STTR awards. The document is filed under “Client Advisories.” The FAQ, as a rhetorical piece, makes it … Continue reading →

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