Articles
Hayden R. Brainard, Survey and Study of Technology Development and Transfer Needs in New York, 9 Alb. L.J. Sci. & Tech. 423 (1999).
Abstract (from author): The Science and Technology Law Center Project was undertaken to identify ways to facilitate the management, development, and transfer of technology from research sites, companies, universities, and entrepreneurs to the marketplace. Business, industry, and government would like to encourage efficient, fast, and less expensive means of transferring technology. However, due to the inefficiency of development and transfer processes, many technologies remain undeveloped. The initial hypothesis of this study is that business and legal difficulties restrict technology development and transfer, and that changes in business and legal culture, through programs and services, may facilitate the development and transfer of technology.
Rochell Cooper Dreyfuss, Fostering Dynamic Innovation, Development and Trade: Intellectual Property as a Case Study in Global Administrative Law, 2009 Acta Juridica 237 (2009).
Abstract: International intellectual property law furnishes a case study on the need for norms of global governance. In an earlier era, multilateral intellectual property instruments recognized the dynamic nature of information production; under their terms, nations could balance the interests of producers in earning a return from their intellectual investments against the interests of users in accessing new knowledge for both consumptive and productive purposes. Now that IP is part of the WTO trade regime, information streams have been intensely commodified and an emphasis has been placed on raising IP protection to ever-higher levels. While there are traders in the North and in some emerging economies that are reaping rewards from this system, the TRIPS Agreement is operating as a tax on the South and is chilling innovation is the North. Ostensibly, TRIPS permits nations to strike the appropriate local balance between proprietary and access interests. However, because the drafters of TRIPS incompletely theorized the function of exclusive right regimes, WTO adjudicators have had difficulty evaluating challenges to public-regarding legislation and nations have little guidance for enacting TRIPS-compatible law. But TRIPS does include two potential saving graces. It contemplates close cooperation with WIPO, which now administers upward of 20 intellectual property instruments. Furthermore, the Agreement sets up a Council to oversee compliance. The combined expertise of these two entities could be exploited to rectify the deficits in TRIPS. This paper explores the institutional design issues that must be resolved for these institutions to function effectively. These include mechanisms for incorporating WIPO's expertise into the interpretive process, for insuring that WIPO and the Council operate within the scope of authority delegated by WTO members, for controlling forum shopping, and ensuring transparency, competence, and participation. It ends with suggestions for substantive reform to supplement these administrative devices.
Christopher S. Hayter, A Social Responsibility View of the "Patent-Centric Linear Model" of University Technology Transfer, 54 Duq. L. Rev. 7 (2016).
Abstract (from author): Research universities are increasingly recognized for their role in regional and national economic prosperity. The contributions of research universities are primarily related to their role in the production and dissemination of new knowledge into society, including through the education of students. New knowledge is the seed corn of innovation, and thus drives social and economic development. Given that research universities are sanctioned by society as non-profit, publicly-chartered organizations devoted to the public good, this article posits that their primary responsibility related to the production of new knowledge - especially new knowledge flowing from federally-funded research - is its rapid dissemination. While there are many mechanisms through which knowledge is disseminated, this article focuses on the efficacy of "formal" technology transfer, one particular interpretation of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980.
To this end, the author constructs a unique analytical framework based on the voluminous corporate social responsibility ("CSR") literature to examine specific technology transfer management practices and - most importantly - their impact on society. Despite the recent development of licensing practices related to global health and other areas, the author nonetheless finds that the "Patent-Centric Linear Model" of university technology transfer is far from socially optimal, often favoring opportunities for revenue generation at the expense of knowledge dissemination; current interpretations of Bayh-Dole are socially irresponsible.
Peter Jay, Removing Incentives for Technology Transfer: Medimmune v. Genentech, 5 Buff. Intell. Prop. L.J. 69 (2007).
Abstract (from author): MedImmune v. Genentech changed the landscape for licensors and licensees of patented technology. The decision places an emphasis on coercion in patent licensing negotiations, while attempting to realign the balance of power between licensors and licensees. The realignment, however, shifts the power far back to licensees, leaving licensors with fewer options in the realm of licensing. The realignment also creates barriers to effective and efficient technology transfer. The likely result will be a chilling of licensing practices. This paper proceeds in three parts: Part I summarizes the MedImmunedecision; Part II inspects the subsequent decisions by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC") interpreting MedImmune; and Part III examines the impact of these decisions on patent practice.
Andrea L. Johnson, Transborder Licensing: A New Frontier for Job Creation, 13 Tul. J. Tech. & Intell. Prop. 103 (2010).
Abstract: This Article explores why entrepreneurs should consider trans-border licensing as a way to increase markets and create jobs. While transborder licensing can involve both goods and services, this Article focuses on exporting nondefense, non-security-related services and intellectual capital, and it explores how the U.S. government can facilitate the development of an industry of support professionals to help U.S. companies navigate through the regulatory complexities.
Mathew J. Manimala & Devi Vijay, Technology Business Incubators (TBIs): A Perspective for the Emerging Economies (IIM Bangalore, Research Paper No. 358, 2012), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2117720.
Abstract (adapted from authors): Technology and entrepreneurship are often reckoned to be the twin-horses pulling national economies towards their developmental destinations. Technology based enterprises (TBEs) are attractive to policy-makers because of their higher potential for job creation and wealth-generation through business growth as well as their lower disappearance rates compared to non-technology based firms. As new technologies are often developed in R&D institutions, it was such institutions in the Western nations that first took the initiative of providing incubation facilities to transfer these new technologies to the market. The model was later used by public and private agencies for facilitating technology development for new ventures. Such initiatives are now known by the common name of Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), some of which are focused on technology transfer and others on technology development for new ventures. Though TBIs are generally considered to be a major facilitator of TBEs, the experience of their effectiveness has been mixed, especially in the emerging economies’ context. It is against the background of such diversity of experiences that the authors have undertaken a comprehensive review of the literature on TBI performance. The findings suggest that, while in the developed countries technology development drives the incubator movement, the process is reversed in developing countries, where the incubator movement is trying to push technology development forward. For this reason the success of TBIs in developing countries would depend largely on the public support available for them.
Benton C. Martin, The American Models of Technology Transfer: Contextualized Emulation by Developing Countries?, 6 Buff. Intell. Prop. L.J. 104 (2009).
Abstract (from author): The patenting of innovative technology has become an essential part of the U.S. economy, promoted by groundbreaking legislation that allows ownership of technology resulting from research funded by the federal government. Prior to legislation, less than four percent of the tens of thousands of government-funded inventions were licensed to industry, resulting in many technologies failing to reach practical application. Currently, multiple types of research institutions in the United States negotiate an increasing number of licenses every year, resulting in the issuance of more patents and the disclosure of more inventions to technology transfer offices. Even scholars who believe this growth would have occurred eventually without the Bayh-Dole Act (Bayh-Dole) agree that the legislation was important because it “accelerated this growth by clarifying ownership rules, by making these activities bureaucratically easier to administer, and by changing norms toward patenting and licensing at universities.”
Bryce C. Pilz, Student Intellectual Property Issues on the Entrepreneurial Campus (Univ. of Michigan Public Law Research Paper No. 310, 2013) available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2199592.
Abstract (by author): Intellectual property questions involving student inventions are increasingly common on campuses where the number of bright and motivated students seeking to become the next Mark Zuckerberg are rising. This article addresses why universities should be paying attention to student intellectual property issues, issues related to identifying the owner of intellectual property in student inventions; managing joint ownership between students and the university; and appropriately managing student interactions with third party sponsors of class projects. Appropriately resolving questions related to intellectual property in student inventions is more important than ever for universities because these questions no longer relate to a mere school project. Rather, these issues shape the foundations of future for-profit ventures. For universities seeking the correct and most reasonable answers to questions involving student intellectual property, the stakes have never been higher.
Lorelei Ritchie de Larena, The Price of Progress: Are Universities Adding to the Cost?, 43 Hous. L. Rev. 1373 (2007).
Abstract (from author): Universities have a reputation for being isolated ivory towers, but that is changing as universities become large-scale technology owners. As a result, universities today interface more actively with industry. At the same time, they take a strong role in affirmatively influencing the path of innovation in the United States and globally. Consequently, universities wield enormous power in the controversial economics of intellectual property. This phenomenon is very much due to the passage of a simple technology bill by Congress twenty-five years ago: the Bayh-Dole Act.