Author Archives: Gerald Barnett

Bayh-Dole’s anti invention-flipping provision for nonprofits, or where’s that $250B?

Let’s look at Bayh-Dole’s anti-invention flipping protection of the public, aimed at nonprofits. Here’s the text, at 35 USC 202(c)(7)(A): In the case of a nonprofit organization, (A) a prohibition upon the assignment of rights to a subject invention in … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Bayh-Dole’s anti invention-flipping provision for nonprofits, or where’s that $250B?

The use of the patent system for federal research results, 13: The failed middle ground

We’ve looked at the early Federal Security Administration policy on inventions made in federally contracted work–FSA order 110-1, issued in 1952. The government’s policy as set forth in David Lloyd Kreeger’s report for the Attorney General in 1947 was that … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Policy, Vannever Bush | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The use of the patent system for federal research results, 13: The failed middle ground

The use of the patent system for federal research results, 12: Never again a Vannevar Bush

We have been working through FSA order 110-1, an early–pretty much the earliest–federal policy on inventions made in federally funded work. Why? The imp of this policy’s approach to inventions, rights, open access, and patent monopoly haunts subsequent policy discussions … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The use of the patent system for federal research results, 12: Never again a Vannevar Bush

Dr. Irene Till, Pharma Monopoly, and the Bayh-Dole Heist

In a recent Twitter post, Prof. Richard R. John at Columbia University (@RrjohnR) asks for suggestions for a bibliography of “scholarship on the history of anti-monopoly since 1945.” One respondent cites Elizabeth Popp Berman “Why Universities Patent” (well, Prof. Berman … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

What Bayh-Dole has stolen from us

In an article published August 29, 2021 in The Intercept, Alexander Zaitchik describes the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act as “The Great American Science Heist,” with the subtitle “How the Bayh-Dole Act Wrested Public Science From the People’s Hands.” He … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Technology Transfer, Vannever Bush | Tagged , , | Comments Off on What Bayh-Dole has stolen from us

The use of the patent system for federal research results, 11: Safeguards that don’t guard

We have been working through Federal Security Agency order 110-1, which in 1952 introduced an agency-wide policy for inventions made in public health research. The core of the policy was to prefer open access for all such inventions, but then … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Policy, Technology Transfer | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The use of the patent system for federal research results, 11: Safeguards that don’t guard

The use of the patent system for federal research results, 10: the drivers that eventually produce Bayh-Dole

There’s the version of the theory of patent rights that asserts that exclusionary practice is at the heart of the value of a patent, and any practice that declines to assert a patent wastes that value. This theory of exclusionary … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Policy, Technology Transfer | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The use of the patent system for federal research results, 10: the drivers that eventually produce Bayh-Dole

The use of the patent system for federal research results, 9: Exploiting the FSA policy safeguards

The earliest major federal patent policy, FSA policy 110-1–for public health research, no less–sets up a process by which the head of each “constituent unit” of the FSA is to make a determination in each case whether the use of … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The use of the patent system for federal research results, 9: Exploiting the FSA policy safeguards

The use of the patent system for federal research results, 8: Exploiting the use of the patent system

FSA policy 110, the first agency attempt at making a policy to deal with inventions made in federally supported public health research, tries to establish a middle ground for the use of patents. While clearly endorsing open access, including royalty-free … Continue reading

Posted in Commons, History, Policy, Sponsored Research, Technology Transfer | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The use of the patent system for federal research results, 8: Exploiting the use of the patent system

The use of the patent system for federal research results, 7: Failure of FSA 110-1 to establish a middle ground

Let’s look more carefully at this second possibility beyond the possibility of open access–and where the “generally” in FSA 110-1 gets triggered to make at an attempted middle ground between always open access and full-on use of patents to exclude … Continue reading

Posted in History, Patents, Policy, Sponsored Research | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The use of the patent system for federal research results, 7: Failure of FSA 110-1 to establish a middle ground