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Blockbuster patents enrich university coffers, but can also affect future patenting and research decisions.
Universities and nonprofit research institutes (collectively referred to here as universities) have become an increasingly important part of the biotechnology patent environment, beginning in 1980 with Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer's patents for "DNA splicing", which are frequently credited as one of the major stimuli for the creation of the biotechnology industry. Other landmark patents include those on transgenic mice, gene transfer, and antiangiogenesis for cancer treatments. Universities have been a central part of all these patents.
In keeping with this trend, universities have become increasingly active in licensing their technology to third parties. At one time, there was considerable discussion on how university-owned patents would affect basic research. Those concerns have largely subsided; the issue now is whether or not university scientists can conduct research that has been licensed to companies in which they have equity.
In this new climate, there have been a number of cases where significant licensing revenue has been obtained by universities for their "blockbuster" patents. Here we look at several examples to determine what effect such blockbusters could have on university policies regarding patenting, and ultimately, university research.Licensing a blockbuster
Patents provide a limited monopoly by which the owner of the patent has the right to exclude others from practicing the invention described in the patent's claims. Successful university patents are usually judged not by the scope of the claims or the patent's subject matter (i.e., composition of matter, method of use, method of treatment, or method of synthesis), but rather on how much revenue the university has generated by licensing that patent. Table 1 shows a number of the top revenue-generating patents from
the years 1997 to 1998, and Table 2 lists the product, the number of the patent or patents covering the product, and the type of patent claims.
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Ernst Max Nielsen - MaxInno: www.icnet.dk
Denmark, Tel +45-4040-3264 ; +45-8616-6218
Skype: ernstmaxnielsen; SkypeIn: +45-3698-1953
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