Category Archives: History

Blasts from the Past

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

Here is the University of Arizona invention policy statement from 1939.  Simple voluntary approach with a breakout for expressly set out positions, with inventors owing 10% of their proceeds to the University if they are not using Research Corporation and … Continue reading →

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No-troll covenants

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

Twitter has announced an Innovator’s Patent Agreement (thanks for the link, Steve) that gives inventors some rights that run with any assignment of patents on their inventions.   Inventors retain a right license with right to sublicense in the event that … Continue reading →

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How Bayh-Dole was used to expand university IP claims

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

I’ve put together a graphic that shows a cascade of possible places where a university and faculty might consider the matter of ownership of inventions and works of authorship. I’ve arranged things into various rows, each with a corresponding letter … Continue reading →

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A carefully crafted scheme

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

How should a federal government deal with ownership of inventions made at universities with federal support? Consider the situation that existed at the time the Bayh-Dole Act was being implemented.  Many universities did not have technology transfer offices of the … Continue reading →

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"Employerism", ethics, and IP at the University of Washington

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

In 2003, the Public Employment Relations Commission ruled that despite a state law to the contrary, graduate students at the University of Washington should be allowed to organize and seek union representation.  I’m not so concerned with the unionization issue, … Continue reading →

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The loss of university invention selectivity

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

A primary argument for university involvement in the management of federally supported inventions was that university agents were reporting something like 30% of their inventions under management were being placed with commercialization partners, while the federal agencies’ rate was something … Continue reading →

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Francis Bacon, Vannevar Bush, and Technology Transfer

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

Peter Harrison and Benoît Godin trace the history and transformation of two of the critical concepts that underlie the present formula for university research: curiosity and innovation. Remarkably, both concepts have much of their early existence as negative things, to be … Continue reading →

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Regulation Is Not a Plan

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

A recent interview (only one free article a month) at The American Interest with Peter Thiel caught my eye.  The interview takes up the idea that there has been a stagnation of innovation since the 1960s, other than in IT and … Continue reading →

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The University D-Economy, Fitt 5

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

I have been looking at various statements regarding the “D-economy.” It goes by various names–Shanzhai rules, débrouillards, System-D. The Wired write up was interesting. Here is another, from Coley Hudgins at Resilient Family. Here’s another by Robert Neuwirth (who was … Continue reading →

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Just how many Termans do ya got there?

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

I was looking at some accounts of collaboration and found this wonderful symposium paper by AnnaLee Saxenian. It’s from 1995, but as it talks about the history of Silicon Valley, it is ever much insightful and relevant as ever to … Continue reading →

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