Accountability in patenting of federally funded research

Bayh-Dole allows academic grantees to patent federally-funded research for purposes of promoting the commercialization of this research. To ensure commercialization goals are achieved, the Act requires grantees to report to funding agencies not only the existence of federally-funded patents but also utilization efforts they and their licensees/assignees are making. Although reporting is a cornerstone of accountability under Bayh-Dole, information about grantee compliance with reporting requirements is incomplete and dated. In fact, the last significant study of the question dates back to the late 1990s and analyzes only 633 patents. Since that time, concerns have emerged that federally-funded university patents are being asserted improperly against independent commercializers or even assigned to so-called “patent trolls.” This article provides fresh evidence indicating substantial under-reporting of the existence of federal funding in over 30,000 academic biomedical patents issued between 1980 to 2007. The article finds substantial under-reporting of federal funding even in the case of patents on FDA-approved drugs, which should presumably receive significant attention from universities. Grantees’ failure to report federal funding suggests similar, or even more significant, noncompliance with requirements to report utilization information. However, compliance with reporting requirements on utilization cannot be assessed because of secrecy associated with relevant government databases. Accordingly, the article makes a fresh argument that the Commerce Department, which has the requisite regulatory authority, work with funding agencies, to improve transparency. Greater transparency would not only motivate grantees to improve reporting but would also allow assessment of whether grantee patent management is actually achieving Bayh-Dole\u27s utilization goals

Las instituciones como factor que regula el desempeño económico

There has recently been a resurgence of interest in how institutions affect economic performance. A review of this literature reveals that the concept of an ‘institution’ means different things to different scholars, both within economics and across the social sciences. This paper discusses what factors unify the different definitions of institutions, and develops a concept of institutions useful for the analysis of economic performance, and economic growth in particular. Specifically, it develops the notion of institutions as standard ‘social technologies’. Economic growth results from the co-evolution of physical and social technologies.institutions, economic growth, rutines, social technologies, physical technologies

Interpenetrating Polymer Networks as Binders for Solid Composite Propellants

A new family of polymeric binders for solid composite propellants is proposed, based on two component interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs). These networks comprise two different polyurethanes based on hydroxy terminated polybutadiene and ISRO polyol interpenetrated with two different vinyl polymers, viz poly methyl methacrylate and polystyrene. the networks synthesized by the simultaneous interpenetrating technique have been characterized for their properties, such as stress-strain, density, viscosity, thermal degradation, and heat of combustion. Phase morphologies have been determined using electron microscopy. Suitable explanations have been adduced to rationalize the properties of IPNs in terms of their structures and chain interactions. A study of the mechanical properties and burning rates of the ammonium perchlorate (AP)-based solid propellant using the newly synthesised IPNs as binders, has been carried out. The results show that both mechanical strength and burning rate of solid propellants could be suitably modified by simply changing the nature and/or the ratio of the two interpenetrating polymer components

University Software Ownership and Litigation: A First Examination

Software patents and university-owned patents represent two of the most controversial intellectual property developments of the last twenty-five years. Despite this reality, and concerns that universities act as “patent trolls” when they assert software patents in litigation against successful commercializers, no scholar has systematically examined the ownership and litigation of university software patents. In this Article, we present the first such examination. Our empirical research reveals that software patents represent a significant and growing proportion of university patent holdings. Additionally, the most important determinant of the number of software patents a university owns is not its research and development (“R&D”) expenditures (whether computer science-related or otherwise) but, rather, its tendency to seek patents in other areas. In other words, universities appear to take a “one size fits all” approach to patenting their inventions. This one size fits all approach is problematic given the empirical evidence that software is likely to follow a different commercialization path than other types of invention. Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that we see a number of lawsuits in which university software patents have been used not for purposes of fostering commercialization, but instead, to extract rents in apparent holdup litigation. The Article concludes by examining whether this trend is likely to continue in the future, particularly given a 2006 Supreme Court decision that appears to diminish the holdup threat by recognizing the possibility of liability rules in patent suits, as well as recent case law that may call into question certain types of software patents

Antiangiogenic Therapies for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a significant cause of death worldwide. HCC is a highly vascular tumor, and proangiogenic cytokines such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and fibroblast growth factor may play crucial roles in this disease. Sorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor that blocks VEGF and PDGF signaling, was the first systemic therapy to demonstrate improved survival in patients with advanced HCC. Several other drugs targeting VEGF are in development. Because of the anticipation of eventual resistance to anti-VEGF therapies, drugs that also target alternative proangiogenic pathways are being investigated. Recent clinical and preclinical data along with ongoing studies are reviewed

Nematicidal, Fungicidal and Bactericidal Activities of Manganese (II) Complexes with Heterocyclic Sulphonamide Imines

Some manganese(II) complexes derived from different sulphadrugs and heterocyclic ketones have been prepared. These complexes have been characterized on the basis of elemental analyses, molecular weight determinations, conductivity measurements, infrared, ESR and magnetic measurements. The spectral data suggest that the ligands act in a monobasic, bidentate manner coordinating through nitrogen atom. A high spin tetrahedral geometry around this metal has been proposed on the basis of magnetic and spectral studies. The isolated products are coloured solids, soluble in DMSO, DMF and MeOH. All the complexes are monomeric in nature as indicated by their molecular weight determinations and conductivity measurements in dry DMF show them to be non-electrolytes. All the ligands and their corresponding complexes have been screened for their fungicidal, bactericidal and nematicidal activities

Unique challenges accompany thick-shell CdSe/nCdS (n \u3e 10) nanocrystal synthesis

Thick-shell CdSe/nCdS (n \u3e10) nanocrystals were recently reported that show remarkably suppressed fluorescence intermittency or blinking at the single-particle level as well as slow rates of Auger decay. Unfortunately, whereas CdSe/nCdS nanocrystal synthesis is well-developed up to n \u3c 6 CdS monolayers (MLs), reproducible syntheses for n \u3e 10 MLs are less understood. Known procedures sometimes result in homogeneous CdS nucleation instead of heterogeneous, epitaxial CdS nucleation on CdSe, leading to broad and multimodal particle size distributions. Critically, obtained core/shell sizes are often below those desired. This article describes synthetic conditions specific to thick-shell growth (n\u3e 10 and n\u3e 20 MLs) on both small (sub2 nm) and large (\u3e4.5 nm) CdSe cores. We find added secondary amine and low concentration of CdSe cores and molecular precursors give desired core/shell sizes. Amine-induced, partial etching of CdSe cores results in apparent shell-thicknesses slightly beyond those desired, especially for very-thick shells (n \u3e20 MLs). Thermal ripening and fast precursor injection lead to undesired homogeneous CdS nucleation and incomplete shell growth. Core/shells derived from small CdSe (1.9 nm) have longer PL lifetimes and more pronounced blinking at single-particle level compared with those derived from large CdSe (4.7 nm). We expect our new synthetic approach will lead to a larger throughput of these materials, increasing their availability for fundamental studies and applications

TRIPS implementation and secondary pharmaceutical patenting in Brazil and India

This article compares national approaches toward secondary pharmaceutical patents. Because secondary patents can extend periods of exclusivity and delay generic competition, they can raise prices and reduce access to medicines. Little is known about what measures countries have enacted policies to address applications for secondary pharmaceutical patents, how they function, and whether, in practice, these measures limit secondary patents. We analyze the cases of India and Brazil. We assemble data on pharmaceutical patent applications filed in the two countries, code each application to identify which constitute secondary applications, and examine outcomes for each application in both countries. The data indicate that Brazil is less likely to grant applications than India, but in both countries the measures designed to limit secondary patents are having little direct effect. This suggests, on the one hand, that critics of these policies, such as the transnational pharmaceutical sector and foreign governments, may be more worried than they should be. On the other hand, champions of the policies, such as NGOs and international organizations, may have cause for concern that laws on the books are not having the expected impact on patent outcomes in practice. Our findings also suggest that, at the drug level, the effects of countries’ approaches toward secondary patents need to be understood in the context of their broader approaches toward TRIPS implementation, including when and how they introduced pharmaceutical patents in the 1990s and 2000s