Category Archives: IP

Come in from the cold

In The Economist for August 8, there’s an article on the problem of patents. The article questions the utility of patents and points to a number of situations in which patents appear to block innovation or have nothing to do … Continue reading

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Four approaches to university IP management

It may be useful to map out four approaches to university IP management: Personal Entrepreneurial Institutional Open The discussion below does not advocate for one approach over the others, though compulsory institutional IP management seems not to have worked all … Continue reading

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Who ya gonna call?

University of Washington president Michael Young gave a ten-minute talk in February 2012 at the opening of a business incubator on the UW campus. The talk is fascinating as a rationalization for the $100M effort to flip faculty and student startups … Continue reading

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The Seven Pillars of New University Innovation Practice

Here are the Seven Pillars of the New University Innovation Practice.  Freedom to innovate is not new–it is the form of practice that university faculty developed over the course of 75 years, and was the source of “successes” that were … Continue reading

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What do the hawks say?

What do the hawks say? You know, parody is a permissible fair use.

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Silicon Valley Chapter LES Software Conference

Next Wednesday, Nov 13, UC Berkeley and the Silicon Valley Chapter of LES are hosting a one-day conference on “software and copyright IP commercialization.”  If you are in the Bay Area, or need an excuse to get to the Bay … Continue reading

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Feynman on his patents

Richard Feynman was awarded patents. Here is a recording of an interview that describes how it all came about. You can also read about the episode in Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman? Could be academic inventions are a dime a … Continue reading

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Forms of ownership failure in compulsory university IP policies

Let’s look at intellectual property ownership in the context of faculty work. For scholarship, we can identify six forms of ownership:  ownership of inventions (patent), original works of authorship (copyright), marks used in commerce (trademark), information (trade secret), tangible stuff … Continue reading

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Five Law Cases for University IP Management

Here are some law cases involving intellectual property that faculty considering IP policies and scholarship should be aware of. I give a date for a primary decision (there are all sorts of proceedings for these cases), a brief summary, and … Continue reading

Posted in Agreements, Bayh-Dole, IP, Policy, Stanford v Roche | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Free Play of Free Intellects

The Bayh-Dole Act has been championed as a great turning point in the federal government’s management of inventions made by university faculty (for the most part) supported by federal money. The impression meant to be left with us is that … Continue reading

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