The first episode of the third season of the popular podcast series, ‘Understanding IP Matters,’ drops on Wednesday with the focus on public-private technology partnerships, which despite their many achievements remain in the cross-hairs of skeptics.
Despite the 40-year success of university technology transfer programs under the Bayh-Dole Act, they are under pressure from those who believe ownership of government research, including patented inventions that are a product of it, should remain in the hands of the government, even though it is ill-equipped to bring them to market.
“The U.S. is at the point now where we are having rivals, and having rivals sharpens your attention. A lot of these anti-patent policies came from the 1950’s and 60’s, when the U.S. didn’t have any economic rivals. Suddenly we had Germany and Japan eating our lunch. People said ‘we’d better wake up here. ‘I think we’re in that same situation now.”
This season’s first episode of UIPM features Kathy Ku, Executive Director of Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing for 27 years until she retired to join Wilson Sonsini, and Joe Allen, Executive Director of the Bayh-Dole Coalition and founding director of the Office of Technology Commercialization at the Department of Commerce. The episode, which can be found here on Wednesday morning, is called, “Tech Partnerships – From Government to University to Consumer.”
After decades of successful public-private partnerships, universities and businesses are still fighting to maintain the opportunities provided by the Bayh-Dole Act.
Two-Week Drop
Subsequent episodes of UIPM will drop every other Wednesday:
- October 18th
- November 1st
- November 15th
- November 29th
- December 13th
- Resume in January
Season 3’s discussions include interviews with licensing heads at Microsoft and IBM; the need for innovation policy and fairness, with a former ITC Commissioner and a successful entrepreneur-inventor; and the role of short form video (like TikTok and Instagram Reels) on IP awareness and A.I. ethics, with an IT professor who has over 3 million likes.
Receive alerts by requesting it on the platform of your choice: Apple, Spotify, Google, et al. or simply visit CIPU’s podcast page.
“The U.S. is at the point now where we are having rivals, and having rivals sharpens your attention,” says Allen, a veteran of policy wars. “A lot of these anti-patent policies came from the 1950’s and 60’s, when we didn’t have any economic rivals. Suddenly we had Germany and Japan eating our lunch. People said ‘we’d better wake up here.’ I think we’re in that same situation now.”
Since it was enacted in 1980, the Act has led to over $1.3 trillion in U.S. economic growth, created more than 4.2 million jobs across the country, and contributed to the success of over 11,000 new startup companies from universities throughout America.
For a more in depth overview of the first episode by Madeleine Key, visit IPWatchdog starting on Wednesday.
Image source: CIPU at understandingip.org
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