Category Archives: Technology Transfer

A Good Worry for 2013

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Gerald Barnett

Edge has published its question and answers for 2013:  “What *should* we be worried about?”  If you are not acquainted with Edge, it is a continuing conversation started by John Brockman to get scientists and artists to compare notes, as … Continue reading →

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12 Responses to Compulsory Invention Policies at Public Universities

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

Here are twelve arguments that push back on public university claims to ownership of faculty-made inventions. 1. State control of scholarship.  So much for academic freedom. 2. Eminent domain.  Taking private property without just compensation for public universities. 3. Not … Continue reading →

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University Innovation Bill of Rights

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

Here are 10 elements for a university innovation Bill of Rights: 1. The university shall make no ownership claims to faculty or student scholarship, including inventions and discoveries, as a condition of employment, use of resources, or participation in sponsored … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom, Innovation, IP, Policy, Technology Transfer | 1 Comment

State-mandated rainbow chasing

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

A Bill of Rights strategy is about limiting the claims of government and institutions in favor of personal freedoms.  By contrast, a Geneva Conventions strategy is about being decent to captives once they have become captive.  Most everything about improving … Continue reading →

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Falling revenues for the model that never was, but is

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

An article by Jens Krogstad in USA Today, reposted at Innovation Daily, has the headline “Universities struggle with falling invention royalties”.   Well, no kidding.   The big biotech window of investment was 1980-1995.   Aging patents in university portfolios are expiring everywhere, … Continue reading →

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Right More Often Than Wrong

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

John Gruber writes Daring Fireball, one of the best blogs on technology management, innovation, and business, generally from an Apple baseline.   I like how he selects from the news of the day, pulls a quote, and provides a quick … Continue reading →

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Considering "Pay the employee as if it had exploited the patent"

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

I have been looking at the impact of the “export” of the faux Bayh-Dole Act from the US to other countries. By “faux” I mean the interpretation of Bayh-Dole that claims that the Act vested, mandated, and/or assured university ownership … Continue reading →

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The Box of Technology Transfer

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

In The Marketplace of Ideas:  Reform and Resistance in the American University, Louis Menand works his way through the angst that is the lot of the English professor mired in a world of humanities departments who have lost their way … Continue reading →

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The March-In That Ain’t

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

I came across an interesting commentary by John Conley on the NIH’s refusal to exercise march-in rights under Bayh-Dole. The post is from January 2011 and has to do with the problems Genzyme has had producing an enzyme that helps … Continue reading →

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Research Shanzhai

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Gerald Barnett

In the Teece formulation, innovation represents a competition among first movers, imitators, and infrastructure.  Each aims for a share of the value of something new and worthwhile.  Patents might be thought to aid the inventor, giving him or her a … Continue reading →

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