The origins of contemporary exclusion of surgical methods from patenting lie in the complexities of managing credit claims in operative surgery, recognized in the nineteenth century. While surgical methods were not deemed patentable, surgeons were nevertheless embedded within patent culture. In an atmosphere of heightened awareness about the importance of 'inventors', how surgeons should be rec...

Using a new dataset encompassing more than 2,200 inventions made by Max Planck Society researchers from 1980 to 2004, we explore how licensee and technology characteristics affect the licensing and commercialization of technologies from public research. We find no evidence that spin-offs and external licensees systematically differ in their likelihood of successful commercialization. Technologi...

I n 1958, the Institute of Radio Engineers awarded its Medal of Honor to Albert W. Hull. He was cited for his Boutstanding scientific achievement and pioneering inventions and development in the field of electron tubes.[ He spent most of his professional career in research and research management at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, NY. He was the author of numerous techn...

Intermediation in Innovation1 by Heidrun C. Hoppe2 and Emre Ozdenoren3 The paper offers a new theoretical framework to examine the role of intermediaries between creators and potential users of new inventions. Using a model of universityindustry technology transfer, we demonstrate that technology transfer offices can provide an opportunity to economize on a critical component of efficient innov...

I introduce and analyze an equilibrium model of invention, patenting and infringement under monopolistic competition. Profitable use of inventions requires adaptation to complementary technologies. With patents, a thicket of conflicting rights emerges and costly infringements occur. This taxes invention and lowers welfare. When an inventor may be a “troll”—patent without inventing—the rate of i...

The paper o¤ers a new theoretical framework to investigate the organization of technology transfer between universities and industry. We ...nd that technology transfer o¢ces (TTOs) can reduce the uncertainty and adverse selection problems between faculty-inventors and industrial ...rms, and thus play a crucial role in forming the market for university inventions. Our results help explain the si...

Intermediation in Innovation1 by Heidrun C. Hoppe2 and Emre Ozdenoren3 The paper offers a new theoretical framework to examine the role of intermediaries between creators and potential users of new inventions. Using a model of universityindustry technology transfer, we demonstrate that technology transfer offices can provide an opportunity to economize on a critical component of efficient innov...

The title question is answered in the affirmative. The patentability of natural gene sequences is based on general principles of patent law, and depends on novelty, inventive steps and industrial applicability of the subject matter to be patented. Patentability is further confirmed by the particular articles of the European Patent Convention and the recent EC Directive on the legal protection o...

BACKGROUND TO THE DEBATE In the United States, the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980 encouraged universities to license inventions for commercial development. Although this financial incentive can stimulate academic researchers to discover new drugs and devices, there is concern that the possibility of monetary reward could distort investigators' objectivity.

We examine whether prizes encourage innovation, and if so, how. We compare changes in U.S. patents per year for technology areas where U.S. inventors won prizes for exceptional innovations at the World’s Fair in London in 1851 with technology areas where U.S. inventors exhibited but did not win a prize. We also compare changes in technology areas for inventions that were advertised in 1851 as l...