Author Archives: Gerald Barnett

Penn State’s Protection Racket, 25: Precarious Position on IP

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

[I have made a few edits for style and clarity, and one update of a citation based on NIST’s renumbering.] Had enough of Penn State? I sure have, but we are not done. Penn State is not an outlier in … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 24: Fiduciary Duty

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

Penn State’s policy on conflict of interest, HR91, uses language that might be used to describe fiduciary duties. Penn State “faculty and staff members,” as a matter of policy, must use “utmost good faith” in their “duties to the University … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 23: Conflict of Interest

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

Penn State’s conflict of interest policy, HR91, discusses requirements on “faculty and staff members”: In their dealings with and on behalf of the University, they shall be held to a strict rule of honest and fair dealings between themselves and … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 22: Agency

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

For all the talk about conflict of  interest in Penn State policies, Penn State does have a policy, HR91, that directly addresses conflict of interest. It’s odd that administrators can’t seem to focus their conflict of interest worries there and … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 21: Outside Activities

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

We are into Penn State’s policy on “Private Consulting Practice,” HR80. We arrive at, finally, a definition of “outside activity”–since one can be involved in outside consulting or merely go AWOL: Outside consulting or other professional activity or service, paid … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 20: Consulting

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

Penn State’s policy on entrepreneurial activity, IP06, continues by reciting badly the university policy on consulting, at HR80. Yes, I suppose we have to look, having read the book. HR80 begins with an assertion about faculty duties: A faculty member … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 19: Conflict of Commitment

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

Even with this critique we have not got to the bottom of Penn State’s policy treatment of conflict of interest/commitment as a covert IP policy. Conflicts of interest and/or commitment “exist” when someone has “preferential access” to knowledge or university … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 18: University Interests

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

Penn State’s policy on entrepreneurial activities opens with this claim: Technology transfer must be effected within the framework of an individual’s obligations to the University. Given what we have learned about Penn State’s policies on academic freedom, we might revise … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 17: Academic Freedom

Posted on August 22, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

Here’s the opening of Penn State’s policy on academic freedom (HR 64): Academic freedom refers to the environment provided by the University that permits faculty members to engage in their scholarly pursuits of teaching, research, and related activities at institutions … Continue reading →

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Penn State’s Protection Racket, 16: Entrepreneurial Activity

Posted on August 21, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

We worked through Penn State IP policies past (1940, 1991) and current, looked as well at the weirdness that is the IP Agreement (from 1992 and current), and discovered that for all that apparatus–poorly conceived and drafted–the only formal requirements … Continue reading →

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