Category Archives: Policy

University Patent Policies, Past and Present, Part I

How should a university (faculty, students, staff, administrators, alumni, sponsors and donors, regents, governments) manage inventions made by those hosted by the university? It is a big question, and it may be a misleading one. There are all sorts of … Continue reading

Posted in Freedom, History, Policy | 1 Comment

Two Key Moves in IPA to Bayh-Dole

The short form on IPAs vs Bayh-Dole.  Two big changes: 1.  Bayh-Dole removes the requirement for university ownership The IPAs forced university ownership of inventions made by anyone working on a federally funded project–faculty, subcontractors, volunteers.  Bayh-Dole and its CFR … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Policy | Comments Off on Two Key Moves in IPA to Bayh-Dole

TLO Summits, Cheap Talk, and Sacrifices

James Mawson has a thoughtful account of a recent meeting at UCSF to discuss how university technology transfer offices could better deal with current conditions for research, licensing, and money.   A description of a meeting isn’t, of course, the meeting … Continue reading

Posted in Bozonet, Policy, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on TLO Summits, Cheap Talk, and Sacrifices

I want my, I want my IPA–Part IV

Previous parts of this essay (I, II, and III) have taken up the structural shift of Bayh-Dole from the Institutional Patent Agreement, removing assignment to the university but also relaxing licensing oversight to the point of non-consequence.  What is left … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Metrics, Policy | Comments Off on I want my, I want my IPA–Part IV

I want my, I want my IPA–Part III

Part III continues a discussion of the changes from the Institutional Patent Agreement to the Standard Patent Rights Clause authorized by Bayh-Dole.  (Part I is here; Part II, here). The Bayh-Dole Act was passed like swiss cheese, with a bunch … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Policy | Comments Off on I want my, I want my IPA–Part III

I want my, I want my IPA–Part II

The first part of this essay showed how the architecture of the Institutional Patent Agreement differs from the new structure introduced by the Bayh-Dole Act. An IPA was a master agreement while Bayh-Dole was embedded in patent law, applied to … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Policy | Tagged , , | Comments Off on I want my, I want my IPA–Part II

I want my, I want my IPA–Part I

From time to time advocates of the idea that Bayh-Dole vests ownership of inventions with employers argue that the intent of the law was to build off of the Institutional Patent Agreement model developed by the NIH. The IPA approach … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Policy | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A Provisional History

I have been trying to figure out what happened to Research Corporation and why AUTM is so antagonistic to the idea of faculty inventors having a choice of who they work with to deploy their research findings.  I call it … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Policy, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on A Provisional History

Patent litigation: the new public purpose of the American research university

While working on a new Guide to Bayh-Dole (one that COGR has yet to thank me for), I spent some time looking at recent patent infringement litigation initiated by universities.  It’s not a pretty picture. In “Sue U.,” Jacob H. … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, IP, Policy, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on Patent litigation: the new public purpose of the American research university

University of Utah’s Policy on State Control of Research Results

University patent policies these days typically contain a definition of “invention.”  Often they try to conflate copyright and patent matters and introduce a new definition, such as “discovery” or “intellectual property” in an attempt at administrative convenience.  These new definitions … Continue reading

Posted in IP, Policy, Present Assignment | Tagged , , | 1 Comment