Eran Segev, PhD This will only stop when the university rankings would be affected buy such anti-innovative actions.

Julie Omohundro I'm inclined to agree that, if a legitimate effort has been made to license the technology and there haven't been any takers, why not sell the patent to anyone who will buy it. A different question is whether the TTOs have made a legitimate effort and, perhaps, whether they really know how to do that.

Gary Baker, Esq., MT Julie, are you saying OTTs are sometimes not totally effective?

Julie Omohundro Moi?

Julie Omohundro Seriously, how would we know?

The patent office grants over 300,000 patents per year. How many are granted to universities? 30? 30,000?

If TTOs successfully license 95% of their technologies and sell the rest to trolls, that may not be totally effective, but it sounds pretty good to me. On the other hand, if they license only 5% and sell 95% to trolls, that doesn't sound so good, but maybe only 5% had any real value. Just because there is a patent on it doesn't mean it's worth anything, and trolls are known for picking low-value patents. Who else has a pile of patents to license, and do they do any better?

Julie Omohundro I'm also aware that developers sometimes have their patents infringed, but they lack the resources to pursue legal action. Perhaps the trolls, who live to sue, might serve as a negative incentive for this type of "infringe at will; they can't afford to protect their patent anyway" approach to "innovation."

Eran Segev, PhD I think university patents should be viewed differently that private patents. The former ones where mostly developed using tax payers money. Therefore, if they are not being used for their original purpose, i.e., legally enable commercialization of the innovations for the benefit of the public (it is totally fine if people make money in the process - That is how our society works), then they should be released back to the public. Selling the patents to trolls is far from serving the public who sponsored those researches.

Julie Omohundro Eran, that's a good perspective. I'm no patent expert. How would they get released back to the public?

Gary Baker, Esq., MT Hi Julie. there is a form you can file at the Patent Office dedicating a patent to the Public Domain. Also, where there was government support for the research, the government typically reserves certain rights, such as "march in" rights to have the invention commercialized (rarely happens) if the patent grantee hasn't.

Julie Omohundro Sounds very noble. And perhaps it is, if those releasing it to the public domain bore the full cost of development and patenting. Although I'm not clear on why they would have patented the technology the first place, if their intent was to make it publicly available. It would be interesting to know how many such patents ever get picked up and contribute to commercialization of a product.

If the costs were paid by public institutions, then it seems to me it's just more clamoring for free government handouts. And for more government undermining of the free market, by those who don't want to have to compete with the trolls.

In any case, it seems to me that, if the TTO is unable to license the technology, then selling it to the trolls in an effort to maximize return on the university's investment in personnel and facilities, is appropriate behavior for a TTO.