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Author Archives: Gerald Barnett
Dubilier, university IP policy and, er, inner life
Dubilier set in motion a cascade of things that leads us to, well, to where we are. In Dubilier, the Supreme Court established that inventors own their inventions unless they agree otherwise, even if they are employees, and even if … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom, History, Innovation, Policy
Tagged Dubilier, employment, patent policy
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Contemptuous Invention Claims
Let’s start with the Dubilier decision. In 1933, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that two federal employees, working within the area of expertise for which they were employed, using the employer’s time and resources, still owned the inventions they made … Continue reading
Posted in Innovation, Patents
Tagged contempt, Dubilier, equitable title, shop right
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Better than drinking oneself silly
In my last article, I argued that “the better way is no way.” Sounds sort of zen-like, no? That is, universities would do a better job of technology transfer if they started by getting out of the claim-everything-own-everything-patent-everything-try-to-license-exclusively-or-not-at-all-for-one-big-hit-in-2000-inventions business. Or, … Continue reading
Posted in History, Technology Transfer
Tagged better way, drinking, technology transfer
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The better way is no way: background rights, royalty stacking, and double licensing arising from university IP claims
Let’s start blunt. Then extended discussion. Snark as needed. Current university IP policies create a background rights problem that drives away collaborators, makes university-based inventions irrelevant, and makes university dealings with IP default to unreliable. One of the dark problems … Continue reading
Posted in Bayh-Dole, Bozonet, Patents
Tagged background rights, complications, double licensing, royalty stacking, stupid
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More on Feynman’s Patents
Back in 2013, I wrote a stubby post to create a link to audio of an interview with physicist Richard P. Feynman, in which he describes how he came to be named as inventor on U.S. patents. Since that post … Continue reading
Espresso Granola
Okay. I have been making granola for dunno over five years. Here’s my once uber-non-public recipe. Combine the Goop Mess and Espresso with the Dry Mix. Bake, stir, and cool. Easy. Expectable IP comment to follow.
Posted in Fun, Innovation
Tagged decalf, granola, innovation, secret
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Why I stepped away, and why I am back
I’ve been asked where I’ve been for the past year, and to brief about it, I decided to step away from writing and focus on other things, such as working with companies. I also felt that I had had enough … Continue reading
Posted in Commons, Innovation, Projects, Social Science, Technology Transfer
Tagged institution, Moloch, NIPIA, project, rainmaker
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Thorin’s Deal
For the past few months, I’ve been memorizing The Hobbit as part of a project of mine to have a look at how (my) memory works. So far I’m towards the end of Chapter 2. The poetry is the hardest … Continue reading
Recreating Bell Labs, or Not
It is time to get back to writing here. I will resume by pointing to a new article by Brian Potter at Construction Physics on Bell Labs, “What Would It Take to Recreate Bell Labs?” Potter identifies a number of … Continue reading
10 Ways Universities Deal in Patents
I have been thinking about how university technology transfer is depicted, versus how it actually happens. The depictions are something of a prophetic hope–inventions reported to the university’s licensing office will be evaluated for “commercial potential” and those that look … Continue reading
Posted in Patents, Technology Transfer
Tagged nothing ever happens, patents
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