Monday, September 8, 2008

New York Times writes about the impact of Bayh-Dole

There's an interesting article at the New York Times on Bayh-Dole entitled: "When Academia Puts Profit Ahead of Wonder." (The article is the most e-mailed article on the nytimes.com website right now.) In general, the article is critical of Bayh-Dole. For example, the author says:

Perhaps the most troublesome aspect of campus commercialization is that research decisions are now being based on possible profits, not on the inherent value of knowledge. “Blue sky” research — the kind of basic experimentation that leads to a greater understanding of how the world works — has largely been set aside in favor of projects considered to have more immediate market potential.


The article fails to mention some important, positive aspects of the legislation. For example, for many university innovations, fungible IP rights promote the dissemination and commercialization of those innovations. For an opposing view, see Donald Zhun's blog.