Bayh-Dole Doing Its Job, NRC Says

A National Research Council study on the changes created at universities by the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act finds that the law is generally working well. The law permits universities to retain intellectual property rights to inventions that are the result of federally funded research. “The movement of intellectual property from universities to new and mature companies is a healthy process, but one that can be improved,” said Mark S. Wrighton, chair of the committee that wrote the report and professor of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, in a statement. The NRC committee said concerns that universities might prioritize commercialization of inventions at the expense of their traditional mission of pursuing fundamental knowledge have not materialized. Among the study’s recommendations is a call for better oversight of the technology transfer process, on the part of both university transfer offices and the federal government, to make sure the law is implemented properly.