Category Archives: Technology Transfer

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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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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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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How (f)(2) saves Bayh-Dole, the "worst bill I've seen in my life"

At the end of the majority decision in Stanford v Roche, the Supreme Court pauses to chide the universities that have come whining to it for federal power to strip inventors of their rights, all for, apparently, administrative convenience: Though … Continue reading

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What is Bayh-Dole and why is it important to Technology Transfer?

Here is a short description of the Bayh-Dole Act at a US university tech transfer office web site.   There are many things wrong with the four paragraphs here.  Consider: In 1980, the Bayh-Dole Act (PL 96-517, Patent and Trademark Act … Continue reading

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Fixing the Flaw in Bayh-Dole with Freedom to Innovate Legislation

The essence of the Bayh-Dole Act is that government, though it supports faculty-led university research, should defer to investigators and inventors who wish to develop the inventions they make. Bayh-Dole does this by pre-approving a broad set of arrangements that … Continue reading

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Manitoba’s Bold New Licensing Practice

It’s only a news story, but it shows the continuing set of underlying assumptions about university involvement in innovation. These assumptions just won’t let go. There is a narrative frame around them that squeezes tight. Take a look at this … Continue reading

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Five Questions That Shape Federal Research Invention Ownership Policy

In the industry research laboratories of the early 20th century, the question was, which comes first, basic research leading to new scientific knowledge, followed by development efforts to create commercial products? or development efforts to create commercial products, which, when … Continue reading

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The Lens of the (faux) Bayh-Dole Act

I continue to be amazed at the persistence of the faux Bayh-Dole crowd. Like something out of The Road Warrior, they keep coming back to wreak havoc. Despite the text of the law, the Supreme Court ruling in Stanford v … Continue reading

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