Goldie Blumenstyk, University Researchers Worry as Pressure Builds in Congress to Reform the Patent System, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 16, 2005 (accessible only to subscribers). Excerpt: 'Congress is undertaking what may be the biggest overhaul of the United States patent system in more than 50 years, and the changes could significantly alter how colleges and universities publish their research and turn their inventions into commercial products. At least one official whose institution is a leader in patenting, Carl E. Gulbrandsen, says some of the proposed changes would be "a step backward for university patenting and commercialization efforts." Mr. Gulbrandsen, managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, criticizes a proposal to switch to a European-style or Japanese-style system, which awards patents to the person who is the first to file for a patent, rather than the person who can prove that he or she was the first to actually make the invention. Such a policy shift, he says, could force universities into "a race to the patent office" whenever researchers develop something that could be patentable. And unless Congress agrees to preserve the current system's grace period, which ensures that inventors can publish their findings without jeopardizing their eligibility to also receive a patent, he and others worry that the change could result in universities' either filing for fewer patents or feeling greater pressure to have researchers file for patents before they make their findings public. In the United States, an invention disclosed at a meeting or in a publication can still be patented, as long as the patent application on it is filed within one year of the disclosure.'
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/16/2005 10:18:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
