University licensing and the Bayh-Dole Act

摘要

The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 allows universities to patent and exclusively license federally funded inventions. With dramatic growth in university licensing, the Act has become controversial and the subject of policy review. For the 84 U.S. institutionsresponding to the Association of University Technology Managers' (AUTM) 1991 and 2000 surveys, inventions disclosed increased by 84 percent, new patent applications by 238 percent, license agreements by 161 percent, and royalties by more than 520 percent. Bayh-Dole advocates argue that in its absence many results from federally funded research would remain in the laboratory; critics say exclusive licenses are not needed for technology transfer and universities are chasing profits. Amid the rhetoric, what are the issues and evidence?