In 1980, the rules changed

The passage in the U.S. of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 was the beginning of a new paradigm in public outreach at universities. It had long been the case that patents stemming from federally-funded were owned by the government, and rights to these patents were available to commercial entities from the government. In the post Bayh-Dole world, universities can retain title to federally funded intellectual property (IP), and can license this IP to commercial entities and use the revenue to support the academic mission.

As background, consider the essence of patenting: governments grant a temporary monopoly to an inventor in exchange for that inventor’s willingness to publish, in the issued patent document, the basis of the invention. (Compare this with trade secrets, where the intention is to never share certain information with the rest of the world.) The reason why this temporary monopoly is valuable is that it provides time to foster a commercial effort around the new invention without competition.

When universities did not have an incentive to file patents, universities simply published on many new inventions. The patents that were filed were licensed to industry by the government, generally on a non-exclusive basis. Since the primary point of patenting is to provide a temporary monopoly in exchange for publishing, many great inventions were not adopted by companies when the ability to practice the invention was owned by everyone. Adopting a new technology requires integration and development, and when you don’t own a piece of property (intellectual or physical), why fix it up? It makes as much sense as renting an apartment and then installing hardwood floors, or renting a car and taking it in for a tune-up.

The Bayh-Dole Act, by providing an incentive for universities to file patents where necessary, has resulted in a tremendous increase in the number of products available to the public. The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) maintains technology transfer statistics on their website. As a further incentive to researchers, universities are mandated to share revenue obtained through licensing with the inventors of the licensed technology. This practice stands in sharp distinction from commercial practice, and recognizes the unique character of the university environment.

The bottom line is that, if you are interested in having your ideas have an impact on the world, patenting may be the best way to achieve this goal. The Office of Technology Transfer is here to facilitate that process.