Category Archives: Policy

Explaining an Emblem of the Linear Model

Gene Quinn at IP Watchdog posted last October a nice essay (h/t to François Stofft at the Linkedin International Technology Transfer Professionals group) on the problems of accelerating technology transfer by federal fiat. The new programs that have been announced … Continue reading

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Limits of Causation Models in Technology Transfer

There is an article by Jonah Lehrer in the latest Wired magazine that is worth the read. It’s called “Trials and Errors” with the subtitle “Dead-end experiments, useless drugs, unnecessary surgery. Why Science is Failing Us.” Lehrer discusses the growing … Continue reading

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Compulsory IP Taking and Public Universities

Personal ownership of inventions is a matter of federal common law and a personal right to a patent on that invention is established in the US Constitution. The Bill of Rights also provides that the government cannot take property without … Continue reading

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Rev Proc 2007-47’s Nonsensical Attack on Bayh-Dole

[9/20/18–See this discussion of Rev Proc 2007-47 by the University Industry Demonstration Project–“Public Policy Regarding Industry-Sponsored Research at U.S. Universities.“] Many public universities use tax-free bonds to construct their research buildings, and when they do, they run afoul of the … Continue reading

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Innovation Fail: autocracy + bureaucracy

I have yet to see a reasoned argument supporting what many university technology transfer officers appear to favor: that the best innovation policy is autocracy + bureaucracy That’s what 70 of ’em argued in their amicus brief in Stanford v. … Continue reading

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Free Agency

It has been a year and half since Arundeep Pradhan published his “defense” of the AUTM status quo in Business Week. If one looks at the comments to that article, one finds a string of pearls of insiders commending the … Continue reading

Posted in History, Metrics, Policy, Technology Transfer | 1 Comment

Rear View Research

I came across an interesting blog post by Jeff Henning. He provides an account of a talk at the University of Georgia by Stan Sthanuathan, VP of marketing strategy for Coca-Cola. Sthanuathan points out that a lot of industry research … Continue reading

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Trying to make the present assignment problem really simple

I’ve been working through the shift to present assignments.  There’s so much bad advice for universities out there.  You’d think the attorneys writing their blog posts and newsletter columns could at least make an effort to get it right.  The … Continue reading

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The UC Present Assignment Demand: Links

For UC faculty unsure of what to do with the UC administration “this is not a change in policy, just sign here to confirm you agree”, here is a set of links to my discussion of the matter, if it … Continue reading

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Vistas of Potential and Speculative University Inventions

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a cover story on reproducing the results of medical research.  It’s behind a subscription pay wall on-line. (fwiw, I used some of my expiring frequent flyer miles to subscribe to keep my subscription active). “This … Continue reading

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