Category Archives: Freedom

A Good Worry for 2013

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Gerald Barnett

Edge has published its question and answers for 2013:  “What *should* we be worried about?”  If you are not acquainted with Edge, it is a continuing conversation started by John Brockman to get scientists and artists to compare notes, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, Innovation, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on A Good Worry for 2013

Maybe Some University Patent Policies Are So Bad They Are Simply Void

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

The University of Washington and University of California patent policies are rather strange.  Both have been interpreted by the university administrations as requiring assignment of any and all inventions faculty make, whether in their labs, offices, showers, on sabbatical, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, Policy, Present Assignment | Comments Off on Maybe Some University Patent Policies Are So Bad They Are Simply Void

University Innovation Bill of Rights

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

Here are 10 elements for a university innovation Bill of Rights: 1. The university shall make no ownership claims to faculty or student scholarship, including inventions and discoveries, as a condition of employment, use of resources, or participation in sponsored … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, Innovation, IP, Policy, Technology Transfer | 1 Comment

State-mandated rainbow chasing

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

A Bill of Rights strategy is about limiting the claims of government and institutions in favor of personal freedoms.  By contrast, a Geneva Conventions strategy is about being decent to captives once they have become captive.  Most everything about improving … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, Policy, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on State-mandated rainbow chasing

University patent policies as covert non-compete covenants

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

I have been looking at laws regarding non-compete covenants.  A non-compete agreement aims to prevent a worker from accepting other work that would compete with his or her employer or business partner.  In employment situations, this might include non-solicitation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Agreements, Freedom, IP, Policy | 1 Comment

Falling revenues for the model that never was, but is

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

An article by Jens Krogstad in USA Today, reposted at Innovation Daily, has the headline “Universities struggle with falling invention royalties”.   Well, no kidding.   The big biotech window of investment was 1980-1995.   Aging patents in university portfolios are expiring everywhere, … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, History, Policy, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on Falling revenues for the model that never was, but is

Three Innovation Propositions of the Moloch-State

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

As American public universities ramp up their claims to own faculty inventions, software, works of authorship, and even know-how, all in the name of profit-seeking from “commercialization”–by which they mean something along the lines of “making money when speculative monopolists … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Freedom, IP, Policy, Present Assignment | 1 Comment

Thanks

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

As we in the US celebrate another Thanksgiving holiday, it is also time to thank all the tech transfer folks for their hard work in the service of innovation for a better society.  We may not always agree on methods … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Thanks

The Box of Technology Transfer

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

In The Marketplace of Ideas:  Reform and Resistance in the American University, Louis Menand works his way through the angst that is the lot of the English professor mired in a world of humanities departments who have lost their way … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, Innovation, Literature, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on The Box of Technology Transfer

Luck. Goodwill. Diligence.

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

I have a hypothesis, not made idly: University innovation comes about primarily as a combination of luck, goodwill, and diligence, typically in that order of importance. Most of the major university licensing transactions appear to have followed this pathway. Something … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, Innovation, Policy | Comments Off on Luck. Goodwill. Diligence.