Category Archives: Policy

Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–6

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Let’s come back around to Hal Plotkin’s question–who owns digital learning resources? Plotkin wants the answer to be: certainly not the university bureaucrats aiming to “commercialize” everything and therefore putting everything behind a paywall. That makes sense. Bureaucrats don’t have … Continue reading →

Posted in Commons, Freedom, Open Source, Policy | Tagged , | Comments Off on Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–6

Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–5

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

There’s a basic problem with federal grant support for research. I don’t know if the Department of Education has avoided this problem, but I will put it out there. If a federal agency supports both research and maintenance of contract deliverables, … Continue reading →

Posted in Commons, Freedom, Open Source, Policy, Projects | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–5

Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–4

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Now let’s deal with “digital” educational works in the context of university intellectual property claims. This is something I’ve spent a couple of decades dealing with. The Department of Education published its final rule in January 2017, requiring open licensing … Continue reading →

Posted in Commons, Freedom, Open Source, Policy, Projects | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Who Owns Digital Learning Resources?–4

Bayh-Dole preempts NIH policy on improper financial gain

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Here’s a passage from the NIH Grants Policy Statement (Part I, Chapter 4): NIH grants are subject to requirements intended to ensure that recipient organizations handle their Federal awards responsibly. Recipients are required to adopt and enforce policies that minimize … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Policy | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Bayh-Dole preempts NIH policy on improper financial gain

Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 8

Posted on August 28, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

We  have looked at the NIH’s views on exceptional circumstances. We started with Dr. Thomas’s 2008 talk, with a discussion about how his talk fundamentally misrepresented Bayh-Dole. We then checked out the PHS Technology Transfer Manual’s statements of policy and … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Policy | Tagged , | Comments Off on Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 8

Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 4

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

In more plain language, even with regard to outcomes, Bayh-Dole is crappy public policy. At best, Bayh-Dole has enabled a betting parlor managed by nonprofits for the future value of patent rights, especially those patents directed at controlling the “market” … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Policy, Technology Transfer | Tagged , | Comments Off on Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 4

Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 3

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

“Exceptional” circumstances are not stated by Bayh-Dole to be rare or unusual ones–they could be common. Exceptional circumstances are those circumstances in which Bayh-Dole’s arbitrary default at 35 USC 202(a) is not the best thing for promoting the policy and … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Policy, Technology Transfer | Tagged , | Comments Off on Exceptional Circumstances in Bayh-Dole, 3

AAU, APLU, and others aim to “bolster” federal technology transfer, 4

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

We are dealing with the bombast that AAU and other “higher education associations” put forward as advice to NIST with regard to how the federal government might better manage its own technology transfer. Instead, the HEAs seek to improve their … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Bozonet, Policy, Technology Transfer | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on AAU, APLU, and others aim to “bolster” federal technology transfer, 4

AAU, APLU, and others aim to “bolster” federal technology transfer, 1

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

AAU has tweeted out its happiness with advice it and other “higher education associations” (APLU, AAMC, COGR, and ACE) have given in response to NIST’s call for public comment on ways to improve federal “technology transfer.” AAU tweets that “Bayh-Dole … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Bozonet, Metrics, Policy | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on AAU, APLU, and others aim to “bolster” federal technology transfer, 1

If state university patent policy is actually state law . . .

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Gerald Barnett

Over the course of a number of years, Professor Galen Suppes was involved in litigation with the University of Missouri over rights to inventions. Among other things, the University claimed ownership of inventions that Suppes made at another institution before … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, IP, Litigation, Policy | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on If state university patent policy is actually state law . . .