Patent policies to fine tune commercialization of government-sponsored university research

Abstract

Exploitation of intellectual property is widely seen as one of the major benefits of federally sponsored research in the United States. Yet patents or other private appropriation of the results of government-sponsored research can interfere with the transfer of new technologies to the private sector for commercial development. To resolve conflicts inherent in private appropriation of government research, university intellectual property protection seekers, laws, and the courts ought to be careful not to grant patent protection for university-based inventions that is too broad. Multiple and competitive sources of technology advance are socially preferable to a structure where there is only one or a few sources. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.