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The article discusses results of a survey from the Association of University Technology Managers about academic inventions in fields such as medicine, plant genetics and alternative energy. It notes that 2008 was a record year for creation of university spinoff companies. It reports that four universities had licensing revenue exceeding $100-million each. Expenses against that sum were not reported. It states that patents issued in 2008 represented a decline over the previous year, but noted that patents take years from application to issue. A chart is presented showing university revenue from licensing and patent activity for the 2008 fiscal year.

Focuses on financing techniques used by universities and colleges in the United States for gaining patent royalty returns. How the financing technique came about; Benefits of universities from the techniques; Skepticisms on the techniques.

Reports on an unusual partnership between Stanford University and Yamaha Corporation. The two parties as agreeing to pool more than 400 patents and patent applications, most involving sound synthesis; The license of the patents as a package with rights to Sondius-XG; The 23-year relationship between Stanford and Yamaha; The patents as based on the work of Julius O. Smith III; Details of the patents in the Sondius-XG package; How they can be used.

The article discusses the results of a report released by the Association of University Technology Managers regarding the commercialization of research at U.S. universities. The article focuses on the amount of start-up companies, licensing deals, and patents that universities initiated in 2010 and comments from university technology officials including Jack Brittain and Bryan T. Allinson are presented. A chart of the business licensing income data for U.S. colleges in the 2010 fiscal year is also provided.

The article reports that the federal jury in Boston, Massachusetts had ruled that Eli Lily and Co. is liable for infringing a patent that was granted in June to the Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and was licensed to a company called Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. The case, involving a patent on a technique for identifying the role of a messenger protein in regulating how cells function, has been widely watched in academic sectors and throughout the pharmaceutical industry because the technique may play a part in many drugs on the market or in development. The verdict could lead to a multi-million-dollar payout to the academic institutions from Lily and, eventually, additional millions from other companies, too.

Focuses on a survey conducted by the Association of University Technology Managers revealing that U.S. colleges and universities in the 2003 fiscal year filed for more patents. Increase in licensing revenue collected for patents in 2003; Sources of licensing revenue; Educational institutions in the U.S. known to be successful in patenting and licensing; Deals that resulted to a substantial increase in royalty income in 2003.

Reports that two researchers at the University of Minnesota will receive $300 million in royalties after the settlement of its lawsuit against Glaxo-Wellcome. Filing of the lawsuit for Glaxo's alleged violation of patent rights; Alleged violation of Professor Robert Vince's patented anti-viral drugs; Inclusion of royalties on worldwide sales.

Reports on the lawsuit filed by the University of California in San Francisco against Genentech Inc. Claims of the university that Genentech is in patent violation of one of the world's first genetically engineered growth hormones, Protopin; History of the case; The deadlock decision of the case; The next stage of the lawsuit; Examples of conflicting testimonies; Implications of the case.

Focuses on a survey by the Association of University Technology Managers that examined royalties that were received by universities in the United States during 1997. Number of universities that were polled; University rankings; Number of patents awarded in 1997; Number of start-up companies that were created; How to order a copy of the report.

Discusses the effects of the growth of electronic publishing and of Internet forums in which scientists share their findings on universities wanting to patent inventions. Unintentional disclosure of faculty members' new ideas; Patent Rules in the United States; Availability of guidance in universities; Seeking permission from publishers; Dealing with patent concerns.

Features Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Patented Rutgers discoveries; Formation of the Office of Corporate Liaison and Technology Transfer; Patents; Rutger's success in commercializing research; Technology transfer; Importance of patenting; Rutger's agricultural research.

Highlights the dispute between New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the University of California over which one has rightful claim to the patent for the nicotine patch used by people trying to quit smoking. New Mexico Tech holds the patent on the patch that transfers nicotine through the skin, while California claims its researchers conceived the idea first. Other lawsuits claiming patent infringement; US Patent and Trademark Office study.

The article discusses U.S. universities and their ability to commercialize inventions as outlined in the report "AUTM U.S. Licensing Activity Survey: FY 2009 Summary," which was conducted by the U.S. Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). It examines revenue earned by universities through the sale of licensing rights for inventions, reports on patent filing and technology-transfer costs, and provides a chart regarding university licensing revenue for the 2009 fiscal year.

The article discusses a court case in which a federal court ruled for the plaintiff, Eli Lilly and Company, who had appealed a ruling validating a patent held by researchers at Harvard University,Massachusetts Institute of technology, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, saying patents are for practical procedures, not basic research.

This article discusses the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the discovery that stem cells can be collected without damaging human embryos. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) manages the patents held by the school, including those held by James A. Thomson, who holds a patent for his technique for collecting stem cells. The discovery involves collecting skin cells from adults, which behave like stem cells and will transform into a different cell. WARF has leased the patents to companies such as Geron Corporation so that they may conduct research.

The article looks at how some higher-education associations in the U.S. are urging lawmakers to make several key changes in a major patent-reform bill moving through the U.S. House of Representatives. Among other things, the groups want to make sure that the legislation preserves the legal grounds that allow researchers to seek a patent for their inventions without having to delay publishing or disclosing new findings. In a statement, the associations also expressed concern about proposed changes that could make it easier to challenge patents long after they have been issued.

The article reports on a meeting at Stanford University in Summer 2006 which suggested that institutions who wish to license patents while serving the public good should sue only when necessary, avoid licensing patents to companies that do not seriously commit to developing the inventions, be more stingy about exclusive licenses, and find ways to carve out protections in licensing deals so that poor people and those in developing nations are not barred by patent rights from gaining affordable access to life-saving cures.

The article looks at how the University of Missouri has been strongly rebuffed by a federal appeals court for trying to avoid a company's challenge to one of its patents by claiming immunity from lawsuits under the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the university had given up its right to immunity because it had effectively begun a federal legal process when it asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to intervene in a dispute over a patent in a courtlike process known as a patent "interference."

The article looks at a system for measuring levels of body fat using mat embedded with sensors that can assess the density of various parts of the body. The mat was created by Richard P. Mikat, a professor of exercise and sport science at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. With financial support from the WiSys Technology Foundation, which promotes commercialization of inventions at institutions that are part of the University of Wisconsin system, Mikat began testing his system against established technology. WiSys has filed for a U.S. patent and is seeking partners to help develop the invention for sale to physicians, hospitals, and health clubs.

The article looks at how Duke University has returned a powerful research laser to the physicist who created it, John M. J. Madey, which quietly put an end to a lengthy legal battle. The case produced a 2002 U.S. federal-court ruling that re-established the legal principle that university research is not exempt from patent law. The last parts of the laser were delivered to Madey at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, where he now works. Madey has long maintained that the delays had cost him valuable time in pursuing his research in using the laser to detect bioagents and other dangerous materials.

The article looks at how the foundation that manages the University of Wisconsin at Madison's patents on groundbreaking discoveries on embryonic stem cells is backing down from many of the aggressive licensing demands it had been making on academic scientists. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) said it hoped changes would improve the climate for embryonic-stem-cell research in the U.S. WARF will no longer require academic institutions and other nonprofit organizations to obtain licenses from it for industry-financed research that involves scientific practices covered by the patents. In addition, the procedures that govern the transfer of embryonic-stem-cell lines to other academic and commercial laboratories will be simplified.

The article looks at how a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down in a patent-law case could create some disruptive and expensive situations for the many universities that increasingly depend on licenses to commercialize their inventions. The court held that a party has the right to challenge the validity of a patent in court, even if it has already agreed to license the patented invention and is paying royalties to the patent owner. The decision in the case, Medlmmune Inc. v. Genentech Inc., et al., grew out of a dispute over a patent owned by Genentech. Medlmmune had licensed rights to use the patent for one of its drugs, but then sought to have it declared invalid.

The author reports that the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has agreed to waive its demand that companies pay it for the rights to conduct pre-commercial research on embryonic stem cells if the work is being done at a Wisconsin university or other nonprofit academic institution in the state. This move by the State of Wisconsin and the foundation that owns the University of Wisconsin's patents on embryonic stem cells raises the stakes in the informal battle with California and other states to attract financial support in the controversial field of stem-cell research.

The article presents news briefs on higher education in the U.S. as of July 2006. The University of Hawaii in Manoa has given up its patents on breeds of the Polynesian taro plant after facing criticism and protests from activist groups. Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, criticized the view that all human understanding came from scientific inquiry which she called scientism.

This article reports on a ruling by a federal court in Arizona that a portfolio of patents on computer-driven printing technology by two university inventors is unecforceable. The technology produced millions of dollars for the University of Rochester. It was discovered that the inventors had misled patent examiners because they had published scholarly articles that questioned the value of the invention, but had failed to provide those articles to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office when it was considering a patent application for the invention.

This article presents information about a new system for rigging safety nets that protect arena spectators from errant hockey pucks and other fast-moving objects. The system was developed at the University of Denver, Colorado. With crowds jamming the stands at its Magness Arena several years ago to watch the University of Denver's championship hockey team, university leaders began to worry about the potential for injuries from pucks flying out above the eight-foot-high sideboards that ring the rink. So they asked their conversion manager, Ray Gottfried, to look into buying a system that would allow them to use a net for hockey games and remove it for other events. Gottfried asked for the time to think about ways to make a system that would be easy to maneuver without hiring large crews. His decision to use shorter bars, connected by hinges, was inspired largely by the system's intended storage space: the university wanted to store the bars on the same rack where it kept the blades for its Zamboni. Gottfried developed the system while on the job, so the university has rights to the invention. About a year ago, the institution applied for patents on the design and is close to concluding a licensing deal with a company that sells arena equipment.

The article reports that the University of California system was ranked first in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's list of universities receiving the most patents. The ranking, which is traditionally a top 10 list, includes 13 institutions for 2005 because of three ties. Four institutions on this year's list were not in the top 10 of the previous year. They are the University of Florida, with 64 patents; the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, with 43 each; and Cornell University, with 41.

This article reports that a federal appeals court has upheld the denial of a patent on a DNA sequence in corn genes to two scientists working for a division of the Monsanto Co. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had denied the patent. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it was following the office's 2001 guidelines, which said only gene sequences shown to have a real-world use were patentable. Arti K. Rai, a professor of law at Duke University and a patent expert, said that reversing the guidelines would have been much more of a shock.

This article presents information related to inventions that protect plants from heat and drought with a fungus. A fungus found on grass growing in geothermal soils of Yellowstone National Park that protects grass and other plants from the damaging effects of heat and drought. Companies, foundations, and governments around the world are all seeking techniques that would improve the drought and heat resistance of crops. A longtime professor of microbiology at Montana State University at Bozeman, Joan M. Henson says she has found fungi and other microbes everywhere else she ever looked, and doubted the report could be true.

Reports on the efforts of research universities and related organizations to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to oppose the wishes of the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government in a drug-patent case to be heard by the court in April 2005. Arguments presented by pharmaceutical companies, led by Merck, regarding the advantages of a research that is not a part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration application; Remarks from Andy Cohn, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, on expanding the exemption of drug patents.

Provides information on a survey to be conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science on the academe's efforts to secure patents for commercializing research, as of March 2005. Number of scientists to be surveyed by the association; Features of the questionnaire to be used for the survey; Results of a survey of notices of infringement received by institutions from a patent holder.

Presents an update on issues related to higher education in the U.S. as of September 2004. Application filed by real estate businessman Donald Trump with the U.S. Patent and Trademark to claim the Trump University name as his own; Conversion of Goodwin College in East Hartford, Connecticut into a nonprofit college.

Presents an update on finance in higher education in the U.S. as of April 2004. Patent donation made by the University of California in Santa Barbara, California; Amount of bequest received by the Rollins College from George Cornell, a trustee of the college who died in 2003.

Features the Dynamic Grip Recognition System, an electronic sensing system, invented by Michael Recce, created for firearms, that identifies shooters based on the speed and pressure patterns they exhibit when they grip the gun handle. Average number of guns produced by U.S. gun manufacturers a year from 1991 to 2000; Reason behind the invention of the sensing system; Amount of the initial grant from U.S. lawmakers to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), for the research; Details on how NJIT tested the recognition; Number of years before the applied patent was awarded to Recce.

Provides information on the revenues earned by U.S. universities from the commercialization of drugs, computer software and other academic inventions in 2002. Number of patents issued to different universities; Percentage of licensing income given to inventors by the universities; Increase in the amount spent by universities on legal fees.

Focuses on the U.S. patent won by the University of Central Florida for the design of a ceiling fan with blades modeled after the shape of propellers. Details on how the invention was developed; Description of the product.

Presents updates on financial and management issues on higher education in the U.S., as of July 2002. Criticism on the financial ties between academic bioethicists and the companies they evaluate; Drug patent dispute between Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co.; Financial donation to the medical school alliance of the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.

Focuses on the statement released by the University of Missouri in Columbia in May 2002 which denies any use of patent to clone humans. Information on the patent; Views of the Patent Watch on the patent's claims; Overview of the debate over human cloning.

Reports on the income collected from the university licenses on patents in the U.S. in fiscal 2000. Details of the royalty figure; Findings from the survey by the Association of University Technology Managers; Reported income of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.

Reports on the amount of royalties collected by universities and colleges in the United States on inventions in 1999 according to a survey by the Association of University Technology Managers. Number of university patent applications; Percentage increase in royalty income; Amount of royalties collected by Columbia University on inventions; Percentage of exclusive licenses issued by universities and colleges to companies.

Discusses the ruling in a patent lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company by the University of Colorado system. Findings that the company, American Cyanamid, had stolen the reformulation for the vitamin Materna from two professors at Colorado's Health Sciences Center in Denver; Speculation of the damages that the university will seek, including punitive damages for the professors, Robert Allen and Paul Seligman.

Reports the results of a survey by the Association of University Technology Managers on the licensing revenues and patent activity for the 1998 fiscal year. Details of the survey, including the number of licenses granted to companies and the number of patents applied for; How the statistics from 1998 represent an increase from 1997 figures; Various universities and colleges that reaped royalties, including the University of California System and Columbia University in New York City.