What is the Bayh-Dole Act, what prompted it, and why is it important to university technology transfer?
Enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act (P.L. 96-517), the “Patent and Trademark Act Amendments of 1980” on December 12, 1980 created a uniform patent policy among the many federal agencies that fund research. Bayh-Dole enables small businesses and nonprofit organizations, including universities, to retain title materials and products they invent under federal funding. Amendments to the Act also created to inform licensing guidelines and expanded the law’s purview to include all federally-funded contractors. (P.L.98-620) Critical pressures prompted the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980. Congress perceived the need for reliable technology transfer mechanisms and for a uniform set of federal rules to make the process work. one major impetus for the bill was the lack of capability on the part of the federal government to transfer technologies for which it had assumed ownership. Hundreds of valuable patents were sitting unused on a shelf because the Government, which sponsored the research that led to the disc
Related Questions
- What is the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act, and what is the role of NIST with regard to The Act?
- How has the Act influenced university technology transfer over the last decade and what are the results?
- What is the Bayh-Dole Act, what prompted it, and why is it important to university technology transfer?
