Why does JHU retain title to the inventions?
Prior to 1980, all discoveries and inventions made under federally funded research were the property of the federal government, and few inventions were developed into beneficial products and services. However, in 1980, the U.S. Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act, which created a technology transfer revolution in our nation’s universities. The Bayh-Dole Act enables research institutions and other non-profit institutions to take title to inventions conceived or reduced to practice in the performance of a federal grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. In exchange for this right to take title, the institutions are required to develop comprehensive intellectual property policies, disclose new inventions, attempt to license those inventions, and share license income with inventors. The institutions may use any remainder of licensing income to support research and educational activities. If JHU, for some reason, elects not to take title to a federally funded invention, all rights return to
