Category Archives: Technology Transfer

Seven Pillars of Bayh-Dole, the Law that Loots the Commons

I’ve spent more than a few months now focused on Bayh-Dole and its history. It’s worth taking a moment and summarizing some findings. Perhaps this could be the start of a new guide to the Bayh-Dole Act, told from the … Continue reading

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Circumventing Bayh-Dole, Bonus Fitt

[updated to expand on the limits on government-side licensing once the (e) exploit is in operation–5/19/17 added account of antecedent of provisions (e), (f), and (g) in the FPR 10/6/19] There is one more circumvention in Bayh-Dole that can be … Continue reading

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Government Interest Patent Activity 1976 to 2016, Part 4

In a portfolio model, 1 invention in 200 becoming a commercial product is acceptable, if the 1 is a big hit. In an agent model, 1 in 200 is unacceptable and borders on malpractice or fraud unless inventors willingly turn … Continue reading

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On Exclusive Licenses For Research Technology

Here’s a response I wrote for a research team that is working through issues regarding the licensing of their inventive technology. The team is spread across multiple institutions in multiple countries, working on an enabling technology in medical engineering. ***** The … Continue reading

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Institutional Patent Licensing–One of the least “direct” ways to obtain new technology

A few weeks ago I was involved in a discussion about how a region might import new technology developed at distant universities. One of the participants, with a background in AUTM-style technology transfer, made the off-hand comment that if we … Continue reading

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University technology transfer as an import function

Here is Carlo Marco Belfanti, on “Guilds, Patents, and the Circulation of Technical Knowledge“: In 1554 the Republic of Lucca established a special office, the Offizio sopra le Nuove Arti, to undertake the task of “examining the ways of introducing … Continue reading

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After the parade

Sometimes I feel like my job is to come along after the parade and sweep up all the horse-manure left by AUTM folks. Crowds are gone, balloons all popped, marching bands safe back in their hotel rooms. University inventions locked … Continue reading

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How I got into this mess

I got my start in university technology transfer as a graduate student at the University of Washington. I was working toward a doctorate in literature and interpretation. My dissertation dealt with the representation of text, using medieval manuscripts as a … Continue reading

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University Bayh-Dole Drug Price Gravy Licking

The financial sweet spot for drug development is to find compounds that make widely occurring acute conditions chronic. That’s a lifetime of payments following diagnosis. And really good for the twenty-year monopoly that permits pricing “whatever the market [for pain … Continue reading

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An Effect of Petty University Patent Monopolies

We have discussed the idea that university ownership of patents ought to be different from just any ownership of patents. Universities ought not use patents to exclude all use, for instance, or to license or assign to someone who will … Continue reading

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