Fairplay or Greed: Mandating University Responsibility Toward Student Inventors

By: Carmen J. McCutcheon

Over twenty years have passed since the enactment of The Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act (Bayh-Dole Act) and universities continue to struggle with their technology transfer infrastructures. Lost in that struggle are those who could be considered the backbone of university research: the students. Graduate and undergraduate students remain baffled by the patent assignment and technology transfer processes within their various institutions. Efforts should be undertaken by universities to clarify the student’s position in the creative process.

Cite: 2003 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 0026