Category Archives: IP

IP in 3D Printing

There have been a few articles recently on the growing importance of 3d printing or additive manufacturing. An early, important discussion is that of Kevin Carson on distributed manufacturing, “The Homebrew Industrial Revolution.”  The New York Times and The Economist, … Continue reading

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The Bayh-Dole Experiment That Has Failed

Bayh-Dole is a law directed at federal agency research contracting with universities, other nonprofits, and small businesses. Bayh-Dole makes uniform agency procurement of subject inventions—inventions made with federal support and falling within the definition of subject invention in Bayh-Dole—requiring agencies … Continue reading

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Five Key Elements of Open Innovation

I work with five key elements in open innovation business models: critical mass congestion externalities weak ties drivers Critical mass is a restatement that open doesn’t matter if it’s solitary. There has to be at least another player. Generally, a … Continue reading

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IP for nuthin' and your deals for free

In IP relationships, I talk about the “Big Five”: Ownership Control Money Attribution Risk In the most basic treatment of IP, folks tend to introduce these in binaries.  Perhaps the most common is ownership for money.  But in licensing, it’s … Continue reading

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How the Grudging Farmer Really Feels About the Hens

Here is an entirely typical start to a university IP policy.  I have picked it almost at random.  I don’t have any particular agenda with the school involved.  This sort of reading can be done with most any university’s IP … Continue reading

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Which side of the door?

Why do universities claim faculty inventions rather than offer to accept them? To put an edge on it, the difference between a workplace and a prison is which side of the door the lock is on. 

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The Policy and the Damage Done

Here is a state law pertaining to employer claims to employee inventions: Sec. 2. Employee rights to inventions ‑ conditions). (1) A provision in an employment agreement which provides that an employee shall assign or offer to assign any of … Continue reading

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Creepiness is next to greediness

It is true that some criticisms of university technology transfer offices are misdirected.  Criticism, however, is not merely a sign of ill will or ignorance or organized special interest lulz of everything good.  Criticism also serves the role of debate … Continue reading

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On the warfarin path

We frame our expectations and our insights by the stories we tell.  This is true as well of the stories of innovation.   How does something new come into the world and reshape things?  We have two primary narratives–bane and boon–one, … Continue reading

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Dealing with university patent accumulation

A while ago I worked through the idea of patent accumulation as a problem for economic development. See What Happens Here Is Excluded Here. The gist is, if one accumulates research patents primarily in one’s own jurisdiction and these go … Continue reading

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