Category Archives: Policy

Transferwell

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

I followed a link from Kottke.org to an Atlantic Monthly article by Derek Thompson about how to choose a charity to support based on effectiveness of action rather than effectiveness of pitch or pride of place. The counter-example Thompson gives is … Continue reading →

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Embracing Bad Science in Technology Transfer

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

Julia Belluz and Steven Hoffman at Vox have published a new account of how screwed up academic science is. Belluz and Hoffman report on a string of studies and exposed forgeries that suggest that the published scientific literature is anything … Continue reading →

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Simplify University Patent Policies

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

Close Encounters of the Third Kind begins with reports of strange doings from all over the world. Let’s start in a similar mode. In The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley makes the case that the inventions of the industrial revolution were not … Continue reading →

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Complexity that serves the intermediaries

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

In a recent article in Vanity Fair, Michael Lewis discusses the premise behind Flash Boys. Lewis argues that the stock market had become “complicated beyond belief.” Flash Boys chronicles the efforts of a group of traders to figure out what … Continue reading →

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The Cork in the Keg: Open Source Software Complies with Bayh-Dole But University Invention Practice Often Does Not

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

Over on Daniel S. Katz’s blog there’s a discussion of university policies and open source software. The issue of Bayh-Dole came up, and I provided a comment there. I’m reposting here, with links and a few typos and awkwardnesses fixed. The … Continue reading →

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Nolo Can’t Get Either Bayh-Dole or Stanford v Roche Right

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

I have always liked Nolo Press publications. They are usually well written, easy to read, and affordable. But here’s a bit from Nolo’s “Legal Encyclopedia” doing a number on Bayh-Dole–and this is after Stanford v Roche, because they manage to … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Policy, Present Assignment, Stanford v Roche | 1 Comment

Be True to the Mission, Not to the Apparatus

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

Col. John Boyd was, at one time, America’s best fighter pilot. He could out-maneuver any pilot flying, he could teach pilots to fly, and after earning an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, knew more about the dynamics of jet fighters … Continue reading →

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How we got here, in twelve chapters, 5

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

5. Further Implications of the Faux Bayh-Dole Act The rise of the faux Bayh-Dole Act led university administrators with low status suddenly to see a way to acquire substantial power, using a claim that federal law gave them a mandate to take … Continue reading →

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How we got here in twelve chapters, 4

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Gerald Barnett

[I really do have the outline for the other 8 chapters! I just need to get back to pulling the explanatory text together] 4. Bayh-Dole the Killer The Bayh-Dole Act is passed in 1980 on the premise that doing so … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Policy, Technology Transfer | 1 Comment

How we got here in twelve chapters, 3

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

3. Chasing federally supported inventions Federal agencies develop a variety of approaches to inventions made in contracted work. University research foundations make a pitch for management of federally supported inventions, but are resisted by Public Health Service policies. As a … Continue reading →

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