Author Archives: Gerald Barnett

Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 10

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

We have been circling around the central problem of “exceptional circumstances” in Bayh-Dole. The law works to allow organizations to make decisions about patent monopolies that preempt other statutes–ones that “require a disposition of rights inconsistent” with Bayh-Dole’s arbitrary preemption … Continue reading →

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Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–6

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Let’s come back around to Hal Plotkin’s question–who owns digital learning resources? Plotkin wants the answer to be: certainly not the university bureaucrats aiming to “commercialize” everything and therefore putting everything behind a paywall. That makes sense. Bureaucrats don’t have … Continue reading →

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Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–5

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

There’s a basic problem with federal grant support for research. I don’t know if the Department of Education has avoided this problem, but I will put it out there. If a federal agency supports both research and maintenance of contract deliverables, … Continue reading →

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Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–4

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Now let’s deal with “digital” educational works in the context of university intellectual property claims. This is something I’ve spent a couple of decades dealing with. The Department of Education published its final rule in January 2017, requiring open licensing … Continue reading →

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Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–3

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Plotkin moves on to make another good point–that “Big Pharma is the Model.” And it is–but the model is something other than the Cohen-Boyer patents that Plotkin launches into. Plotkin does not appear to recognize that Cohen-Boyer gene-splicing inventions were … Continue reading →

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Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–2

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

We are looking at an article by Hal Plotkin, published a couple of years ago, that argues against the extension of Bayh-Dole to cover educational materials. Plotkin creates a dichotomy between universities wanting to play at being, or pandering to, … Continue reading →

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Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–1

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

In March 2016, Hal Plotkin published “Who Owns Digital Learning Resources Funded by Taxpayers,” an article on the Department of Education’s proposal to require open licensing of works created with Department funding. Plotkin notes the objections of AAU and APLU … Continue reading →

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Bayh-Dole preempts NIH policy on improper financial gain

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Here’s a passage from the NIH Grants Policy Statement (Part I, Chapter 4): NIH grants are subject to requirements intended to ensure that recipient organizations handle their Federal awards responsibly. Recipients are required to adopt and enforce policies that minimize … Continue reading →

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Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 9

Posted on August 29, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

We are working through the idea of exceptional circumstances in Bayh-Dole. There’s a problem here that lies at the root of the federal policy. Bayh-Dole states an arbitrary default–if a federal contractor acquires a patentable invention made in a project … Continue reading →

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Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 8

Posted on August 28, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

We  have looked at the NIH’s views on exceptional circumstances. We started with Dr. Thomas’s 2008 talk, with a discussion about how his talk fundamentally misrepresented Bayh-Dole. We then checked out the PHS Technology Transfer Manual’s statements of policy and … Continue reading →

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