Category Archives: Sponsored Research

Breaking a social contract, with startups

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

For those universities that have made it a centerpiece of their practice to start companies as a way to get rich and create jobs, there’s a sobering critique of using the venture capital route to do it in the April … Continue reading →

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"Employerism", ethics, and IP at the University of Washington

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

In 2003, the Public Employment Relations Commission ruled that despite a state law to the contrary, graduate students at the University of Washington should be allowed to organize and seek union representation.  I’m not so concerned with the unionization issue, … Continue reading →

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Abandoning the Original Arguments

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

Vannevar Bush’s Science the Endless Frontier is a pivotal document.  It restates the arguments for the value of research and creates a mandate for the use of public funds in supporting universities both in their basic research and their instruction. … Continue reading →

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Regulation Is Not a Plan

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

A recent interview (only one free article a month) at The American Interest with Peter Thiel caught my eye.  The interview takes up the idea that there has been a stagnation of innovation since the 1960s, other than in IT and … Continue reading →

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Stealing IP from grant proposals, oh no!

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

In the US House of Representatives, bill HR 3433 would add “grants transparency” to the review and awarding of federally funded grants and cooperative agreements. The bill would require publication of awarded grant proposals within 15 days of notice of award, … Continue reading →

Posted in Commons, Innovation, Social Science, Sponsored Research | 1 Comment

Projects, the Treatment for Fool's Dream Virus

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

The gulf between the Supreme Court decision in Stanford v Roche and the push in universities for present assignments is huge.   The Court decided the question whether Bayh-Dole was a vesting statute.  It said no. Wasn’t.  By doing that, … Continue reading →

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Research Veering in the Public Interest

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

Did you see this story in the New York Times yesterday?  “Sloan-Kettering Chief Is Accused of Taking Research.” Craig Thompson, who worked at a research institute affiliated with University of Pennsylvania, starts a company, Agios, and now is being sued … Continue reading →

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A Fine Overview of Corporate Sponsored Research

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

In 2008 Roger L. Geiger  prepared this report on corporate-sponsored research for Penn State.  It’s the best discussion of the subject I’ve come across.  I have been involved in or closely followed a number of the programs–the Intel lablets (some … Continue reading →

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Oh, to be the happy dog again

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

There has been a lot of bad advice for universities out there in the wake of Stanford v Roche.   It almost appears to be orchestrated talking points on the need for universities to implement present assignments to prevent another outcome … Continue reading →

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MIT's Patent Policy Problem

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Gerald Barnett

During the kerfluffle known as Stanford v Roche, one of the big advocates for Bayh-Dole as a vesting statute was MIT.   The MIT amicus brief is here.   It’s in this amicus brief that the idea that a present assignment trumping … Continue reading →

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