Posts Tagged: "association of university technology managers"

Bayh-Dole: The Envy of the World Because it Works

MUIR: “There are approximately 40 countries around the world that have enacted their own version of the Bayh-Dole legislation because they have seen the numbers. They have seen the success that the United States has had in commercializing these discoveries. We truly are the envy of the rest of the world. In three or four months I’m going to be visiting about six different countries. What they want to hear about is how is the U.S. achieving this level of success. So oftentimes we look at our own backyard and don’t have a full appreciation of the beautiful flowers growing there but there are lots of beautiful flowers growing in our tech transfer profession in the United States.”

Universities are NOT Patent Trolls

Jane Muir, AUTM President: “[U]niversities are not the next patent troll because at the end of the day, university tech transfer offices were put into place to ensure that the new discoveries that happen in the research laboratories ultimately get out into the marketplace by way of product and services that improve the human condition. The big difference is with patent trolls. They’re not interested in commercializing discoveries. They’re interested in using those patents to sue legitimate companies who do want to move those products into the market. From the commercialization standpoint that really is the fundamental difference. Patent trolls have no real interest in commercializing. Their interest is in litigating.”

Exclusive Interview with AUTM President Jane Muir

Jane Muir, AUTM President: “[T]he majority of all the discoveries that come out of universities and research institutions are very early stage. They’re at the stage where they’re patentable. They are a new discovery, but they’re not yet a product. In order to get them from that patentable early discovery stage to a product that can actually be taken to the market requires an additional investment of time and money, whether it be to develop a prototype or proof of concept. It could be animal studies or all of those things that need to happen to actually create the product out of the new invention. That’s why the patent system that we have in the United States is so important because without proper patent protection, there’s no real incentive for companies and investors to invest in those very early stage technologies without the patent protection.”

It’s Not Paranoia – They Really Are After You

First of all, congratulations! You made The Washington Post and they even spelled your name correctly. Unfortunately, AUTM was specifically called out in an article titled Patent Trolls Have a Surprising Ally: Universities… For a profession that keeps a low profile and goes out of its way not to antagonize people, you may wonder what in the world’s going on that you are gaining such notoriety. The answer is that you are in the sights of several groups who do not wish you well. Some want to weaken the patent system for their short term benefit, some believe society would be better off if inventions were freely available without patents; some don’t think it’s moral for universities to work with industry, and others believe they should determine who reaps the rewards of innovation. While operating on diverse belief systems, they all have one thing in common: they don’t like you.

Spread the Word About Tech Transfer – It Works!

At IPWatchdog.com we write about Bayh-Dole, technology transfer and University innovation regularly. In 2014 we are going to more regularly write about University innovations in the hope of getting good information out to the public to demonstrate the important role of Bayh- Dole and the innovations coming from Universities. Help us help you! Below is a list of the information that would be extremely helpful to have, much of which we could not obtain publicly. Critical to a good, interesting story is conveying the back story, which may be about why the inventor pursued this path in the first place or perhaps about real people who have benefit from the innovation. I understand that some of the following piece of information may be deemed to be confidential, but the more you provide the more substantive and interesting any article can be, which will lead to greater “good publicity,” which patent owners sorely need in this political climate.