Bayh-Dole Act

In The United States of America, what is the Bayh-Dole Act?

• Universities retain ownership to inventions made under federally funded research. In return, universities are expected to file for patent protection and to ensure commercialisation upon licensing.

• Bayh-Dole gave universities control of their inventions. In 1980, the federal government had approximately 30,000 patents of which only 5% led to new or improved products. Many patents were not being used as the government did not have the resources to develop and market the inventions for which it had assumed ownership and there was a need for reliable technology transfer mechanisms and for a uniform set of federal rules to make the process work. Technology transfer has helped to spawn new businesses, create industries and open new markets and ensures that products and services based on federally funded research reach the public.

• Speeds up the commercialisation process of federally funded university research and helps new industries to develop quicker. The range can be illustrated by Stanford’s Cohen-Boyer patent on the basic gene splicing tools to the Axel patents, which provided a completely new process for inserting genes into mammalian cells to make protein (Columbia University).

• The Bayh-Dole Act is vital to the university as a whole. University gross licensing revenues exceeded $200m in 1991 and by 1992 that figure had risen to $250m. Gross Licensing Income is reported in the AUTM survey at $1260m (2000).