Category Archives: Policy

The University Inventor’s Prayer

Psalm 23 includes the lines: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Through some strange time warp, … Continue reading

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Administrative patent policy swarming

I have been intrigued by a story David Byrne tells in How Music Works.   Byrne needed three dancers as part of an ensemble, so they held an audition that had fifty dancers.  The choreographer had the dancers do an exercise … Continue reading

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The non-patenting of the first digital computer

In Turing’s Cathedral, George Dyson provides an account of the creation of the first digital computer at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.   John von Neumann, leading the effort, in 1946 came up with a patent policy for the … Continue reading

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1962 University of Arizona patent policy allowed inventors to choose their agent

In Neal Stephenson’s Anathem, in an earth-history parallel but someways upside downed from our own, there is an order of “avouts” or knowledge-monks called Lorites. A Lorite is “A member of a Order founded by Saunt Lora, who believed that … Continue reading

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Palmer's 1962 Guide to University Patent Policies

Archie Palmer has a helpful discussion on the treatment of invention ownership in the 147 universities with formalized patent policies, as of 1962.  Palmer’s work is important, because for thirty years, Palmer was Archie Appleseed of university patent policies.  He … Continue reading

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Shop use as soulcraft

Here is the opening sentence to Archie Palmer’s 1962 examination of university patent policies: Research, whether conducted in the library, the laboratory or the shop, is an essential and integral element of an effective educational program. This sentence caught my … Continue reading

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Present Assignment Shakedown

That’s a nice invention ya got there, Prof.  Pity if something were to happen to it. Using a present assignment would not have saved Stanford’s position in Stanford v Roche.  There are too many other circumstances that work against Stanford.  … Continue reading

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Expenses (including payments to inventors)

Stanford’s claim on a quarter billion dollars in royalties in Stanford v Roche turned on the little word “of” in the construction “of a contractor” as part of the definition of subject invention.  “Of” it turns out, has its ordinary … Continue reading

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Restoring Bayh-Dole's Fundamental Bargain

Bayh-Dole asks inventors in faculty-led, government supported research to choose an invention management agent.  If the inventors don’t choose, then the government gets to choose. Unlike practice in industry, university faculty had a range of options available to them when … Continue reading

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The Distribution of the SPRC and the Government's Interest in Inventions

The (f)(2) provision in the standard patent rights clause authorized by Bayh-Dole makes everything happen.  It is the key to understanding how agency procurement of patent rights works.  It gets at how a federal agency, through a funding agreement, by … Continue reading

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