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Love, Brian J; Oliver, Erik; Costa, Michael --- "US patent sales by universities and research institutes" [2020] ELECD 307; in Rooksby, H. Jacob (ed), "Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020) 256

Book Title: Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer

Editor(s): Rooksby, H. Jacob

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: US patent sales by universities and research institutes

Author(s): Love, Brian J; Oliver, Erik; Costa, Michael

Number of pages: 27

Abstract/Description:

This Chapter explores the extent to which universities and other nonprofit research institutes currently participate in the secondary market for patents. We document 220 assignments, involving a total of 544 US patent assets, that appear to represent arms-length patent sales by universities (or other nonprofit research institutes) during the period 2012–2017. We present data on the entities and assets involved in these transactions, as well as the publicly available circumstances underlying each sale. Among other findings, we observe that foreign universities are the most active market participants. Overall, US universities and labs account for less than one quarter of sales, and elite US research universities are almost entirely absent from the market. We also find that few academic US patent sales bear the hallmarks of technology transfer. Just eleven percent of assets appear to have been purchased with commercialization in mind. Virtually all other purchases appear to have been either defensive acquisitions by operating technology companies or purchases by nonpracticing entities. Finally, we consider what conclusions policymakers and university administrators may draw from our data.