Category Archives: History

Being blunt about Bayh-Dole operations, 2

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

Under Bayh-Dole, a federal contractor has no special right, and no obligation, to take ownership of inventions arising in federally supported research or development. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in Bayh-Dole that suggests that Congress had any intention to make … Continue reading →

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The IPA and Bayh-Dole on nonprofit assignment of subject inventions, 3

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

We are working through the approaches of the IPA master and Bayh-Dole’s standard patent rights clause to the assignment of inventions by nonprofit organizations. Unlike the IPA, which was a federal master contract made with selected organizations, Bayh-Dole is a … Continue reading →

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The IPA and Bayh-Dole on nonprofit assignment of subject inventions, 2

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

We have looked at the IPA assignment clause. Since the IPA is specific to nonprofits, there’s no reason to call out nonprofitedness. But there is a reason then to restrict any later invention assignment to nonprofit assignees. Why? The point … Continue reading →

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The IPA and Bayh-Dole on nonprofit assignment of subject inventions, 1

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

Norman Latker, patent counsel at the NIH, drafted Bayh-Dole on the sly, working against HEW policy on inventions to create an easier pathway by which nonprofits could pass exclusive control of inventions made in work receiving NIH funding to the … Continue reading →

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What has Bayh-Dole changed?

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

There’s a persistent claim made that Bayh-Dole somehow changed university technology transfer–started it, revolutionized it, and/or made it successful where it wasn’t before. Something pretty darned big, anyway. But nowhere in Bayh-Dole is there any hint that nonprofit technology transfer … Continue reading →

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Necessary Federal Exclusive Licensing

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

The Harbridge House report in 1968 mused that based on survey responses from nonprofit patent administrators, . . . the inventions must frequently arise from basic research and require substantial private development before reaching the stage where they are commercially … Continue reading →

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The Turning Point in Federal Patent Policy

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

1971. Here’s where things started to go bad. In 1963, President Kennedy issued a memorandum setting forth executive branch patent policy. When the federal government acquired inventions, the policy stipulated that patents would be made available “through dedication or licensing”–that … Continue reading →

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NSF IPA Metrics 1974-78

Posted on November 19, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

Beginning in 1974, the NSF ran an Institutional Patent Agreement (IPA) program until IPAs were shut down in 1978 as ineffective and counter to public policy. Bayh-Dole, one among a number of attempts, replaced the lost IPA programs in 1981. … Continue reading →

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The Thornton Bill’s “purposes” and Bayh-Dole’s “policy and objectives”

Posted on November 18, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

Bayh-Dole states its policy and objectives at 35 USC 200. Here there are, with a more readable layout: It is the policy and objective of the Congress to use the patent system to promote the utilization of inventions arising from … Continue reading →

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Reflections on Shill Reflections on Bayh-Dole, 4: Fake history, executive branch patent policy, and contamination

Posted on September 18, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

Back to reflecting on fake history, namely this: prior to the Act, the government often funded research to spark innovation, but then put the research in the public domain for non-exclusive licensing,… Executive branch patent policy from Kennedy on (until … Continue reading →

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