Bayh, Birch, 1928-....

The Patent and Trademark Act Amendments of 1980, introduced as the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act and commonly known as the Bayh-Dole Act, were enacted on December 12, 1980 (P.L. 96-517). The Bayh Dole Act established procedures through which universities, small businesses, and non-profit corporations could control intellectual property resulting from federally funded research. Co-sponsored by Senators Birch Bayh of Indiana and Robert Dole of Kansas, it was the culmination of 17 years of efforts to address the enormous backlog of patents accumulated by the U.S. government, only 5% of which were commercially licensed, and the 26 different agency policies confronting anyone interested in government intellectual property. Policy unification efforts were undertaken from 1963 to 1971 but with government agencies retaining title. Efforts in the late 1960s and early 1970s pioneered by Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison led to the development of Institutional Patent Agreements with two agencies, Health and Human Services and the National Science Foundation, that allowed universities and non-profits to retain title to their inventions. The Bayh-Dole Act created a uniform patent policy among all agencies and set out conditions under which non-profit organizations, including universities, and small businesses could become actively engaged in technology transfer and commercialization of the products of their research.

Multiple collections of Congressional Record excerpts were compiled by staff members and have been retained in the files of those staff members, in addition to those included in the Speech Files. Speech drafts found in Legislative Working Files remain as received in those files designated by topic.

Birch Evans Bayh II, born in 1928, is a former United States senator from Indiana. He graduated from Purdue Univeristy's School of Agriculture in 1951 and went on to receive a JD from the Mauer School of Law at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. Bayh served as an Indiana senator from 1963 to 1981. He ran for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, which eventually went to Jimmy Carter.

Upon Bayh’s election in November 1962, Robert Pitchell, associate professor of government and associate director of Indiana University’s Bureau of Government Research, arranged to take a year’s leave to oversee the legislative work of Bayh’s office. When Pitchell left in February 1964 to become president of Roosevelt University, Clark F. Norton, professor of political science at DePauw University, became de facto legislative director until 1971. The ramifications for Indiana of any piece of legislation were foremost in the minds of Bayh and his staff, leading to a great deal of overlap between files kept by Indiana Department staff members and those assigned to the Legislative Department and often to intermingling of legislative, committee, and Indiana concerns within a given file.

Where known, the staff member who created a file is indicated by initials in parentheses beneath the heading in the center of the folder tab (also noted in the folder list). Key staff members who contributed to the legislative work were, roughly in chronological order:

Their files of memos and correspondence are to be found in the Legislative Administration series as Memos (Staff) and Staff Files.

Senator Bayh served as a member of the Judiciary Committee for the entirety of his tenure in the Senate (1963-1980), serving on the following subcommittees:

Where known, file labels reflect the staff member who created them. Staff members who contributed to the Judiciary work were, in roughly chronological order:

Birch Evans Bayh was born January 22, 1928 in Terre Haute, Indiana. He attended public schools in Indiana; served in the United States Army, stationed in Germany, from 1946-1948; and after Army service attended Purdue University, graduating with a B.S. in 1951. Following graduation he married Marvella Hern in August 1952, and attended Indiana State University in Terre Haute for two years while also running the family farm. In 1954 he was elected to the Indiana State Assembly, serving there until his election to the United States Senate in 1962. Meanwhile he entered Indiana University Bloomington's School of Law in 1957, receiving his J.D., awarded with distinction, in 1960. While a law student he continued as a state representative and served as Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1959. In 1962 Bayh ran as a Democrat for the office of United States Senator, defeating incumbent Republican Senator Homer Capehart.

His committee service was extensive. During his eighteen years in the Senate, Bayh served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments and as such was a prime mover in the drafting of three amendments to the United States Constitution. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment, concerning presidential succession and disability (documented in his book, One Heartbeat Away ), and the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which set the voting age at eighteen rather than the previous twenty-one, were ratified. The third, the Equal Rights Amendment, was defeated. He advocated reform of the Electoral College, then despaired of that in favor of pursuing a constitutional amendment establishing direct election of the President.

Bayh sponsored and co-authored Title IX of the Higher Education Act, the section that pertains to equal opportunity for women in all programs and activities, including sports, in educational institutions that receive federal funding. He was chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1977 through 1980. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee's Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee, he was the chief architect of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, which established a separate judicial system for juvenile offenders. He was closely involved in the efforts seeking District of Columbia representation in Congress and played an important role in reforming laws pertaining to patent, antitrust, and alternative energy development, including establishment of and leadership in the National Alternative Fuels Commission which promoted the development of ethanol in the late 1970s. He served on the Senate Public Works Committee for a decade, participating in decisions that led to federal criteria for clean air and clean water regulations. He also provided leadership within Congress in forming programs for the assistance of disabled citizens and the mentally ill. Throughout his professional career he championed causes relating to senior citizens, the handicapped, women, and all minorities. He has worked strenuously to increase cancer research and has served as chairman of AIDS Action Council.

Bayh ran for reelection in 1980 but was unexpectedly defeated by the Republican candidate Dan Quayle. Following this election he formed a law firm in Washington, D.C., served as Chairman of the Institute Against Prejudice and Violence from 1984 through 1994, and was appointed to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board by President Clinton in 1995. He practiced law in Washington with the firm Venable, Inc. until his retirement from fulltime practice in 2008 and continues to encourage civic engagement and public service for college students in the Washington, DC area through affiliations with area colleges.

The Indiana Department of Bayh’s office evolved from two of his original staff members, Bob Boxell working largely on Indiana political matters, and Larry Cummings (LC), who by 1965 was the designated head of the Indiana Department. It grew to contain around a dozen people in the “Indiana room” of the DC office and had its own administrative and secretarial staff. Where known, file labels reflect the staff member who created them. Staff members who contributed to the Indiana work were, in roughly chronological order: