Universities' ownership of intellectual property: focus on Canada

Abstract

Universities are important contributors to national and regional economies. Since the enactment in the US in 1980 of the Bayh-Dole Act, which transferred the ownership of federally funded research to universities, a worldwide debate has been ongoing about the benefit of universities' ownership of intellectual property (IP). In this chapter, we review different policies regarding universities' ownership of IP and their impact. We then focus on the case of Canada. Canada does not have an IP ownership policy at either the federal or provincial levels. However, some universities have created their own ownership policies. This contribution is both direct–via employment, purchasing, and taxes–and indirect–via the future impact of students and university research.