The Fair Rewards of Invention

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Before the Bayh-Dole Act was passed in 1980, the billions of federal dollars spent on scientific research rarely benefited the public through commercial applications. Fewer than 5 percent of government patents were licensed to industry. To push patents into practical use, the law set up a scheme for awarding the rights to institutions, like universities, that have incentive to bring inventions to market.

Since 1980, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, has been granted control of 3,673 patents. A recent study found that companies started by M.I.T.’s graduates, faculty and staff generate annual world sales of $2 trillion.

In a 7-to-2 decision this week, the Supreme Court undermined the act’s purpose by ruling that it does not automatically give a university title to an invention by a faculty member when the research is federally financed.

The case, Stanford University v. Roche Molecular Systems, involved a Stanford researcher who had transferred his rights to methods for testing AIDS treatments to a private company that was eventually acquired by Roche. Roche commercialized the procedure and incorporated it into H.I.V. test kits. Stanford sued Roche, arguing that the researcher’s assignment of rights was invalid under the Bayh-Dole Act. The court held that even though the researcher may have had an obligation to the university, he had legally assigned his rights to the private firm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08wed3.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211