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.

From the guide to the The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 Digital Collection, 1978-1980, (Modern Political Papers Collection, Indiana University Libraries http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=7508)

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