A recent appeal initiated by the University of Western Australia (UWA) was dismissed by the full Federal Court of Australia, which upheld the decision to place intellectual property rights into the hands of academics, and not the institutions that employ them.

The case of University of Western Australia v. Gray involved a particular invention developed by a prominent professor of surgery (Dr. Gray) at UWA. UWA argued, that by virtue of Dr. Gray’s employment contract with the school, all of his inventions and associated patents belonged to it. This claim was promptly dismissed by the primary judge of the federal court.

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Posted in Commercialization, Contracts, Innovation, IP, Patents
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“Domain tasting” refers to the practice of registering a domain name and taking advantage of the 5-day Add Grace Period (AGP), which is activated upon registration, for the purpose of assessing the profitability of said domain. The full price of the domain remains completely refundable until the AGP expires, at which point the registrant becomes the owner of the domain. During the AGP, a full cost-benefit analysis is performed to determine whether reasonable profits can be generated via the placement of advertisements on the domain’s website.

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Posted in Domain Names, Internet
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In a recent presentation delivered at MIT, Professor Edward Roberts and Charles Eesley discussed the findings of a report that they co-authored on the role of universities in the level of success ultimately attained by companies founded by their graduates. Understandably, an emphasis was placed on the economic success achieved by start-up companies created by MIT alumni. He explained that there are currently 25,800 active companies worldwide that have been started by MIT alumni, which employ approximately 3.3 million people and generate annual global sales of $2 trillion. This is essentially equivalent to the eleventh-largest economy in the world.

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Posted in Commercialization, Innovation, Technology
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The period of data protection allocated to research-based, innovative drug companies is a hotly debated topic in the pharmaceutical industry and beyond. This period of protection allows research-based, brand name drug companies to maintain a monopoly on the market for any particular drug for a specified duration. During the period of data protection, competing generic drug manufacturers are not permitted to compare their product to the innovative one for the purpose of obtaining their own regulatory approval.

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Posted in Commercialization, Innovation, IP, Pharmaceutical Drugs
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