The urgency is growing surrounding a very important technology transfer issue: the Kauffman Foundation's free agency concept. Amazingly, the concept has made its way into pending legislation introduced by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Jerry Moran (R-KS). Known as The Startup Act, S. 1965 provides much-needed support to accelerate the formation of startup
businesses. Unfortunately, Section 7 of the bill includes some free agency provisions.
The time has come to act. AUTM is helping with its
No Free Agency resource center, and below is a list of some recommended reading materials to help prepare you for action.
First, if you haven't already done so, read Todd Sherer's blog post:
Just Say “No” to Free Agency, which provides links to AUTM's position statement strongly opposing the free agency concept.
Other recommended reading includes the following:
It Ain’t Necessarily So: Just Saying That Bayh-Dole Gives Patent Ownership to University Inventors Doesn’t Make It True, which was written by former staffer to Sen. Birch Bayh Joseph Allen and Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) patent counsel emeritus Howard Bremer, appeared in the April 6th Life Sciences Law & Industry Report (published by Bloomberg BNA).
In School Power: The Case for Keeping Innovation in the Hands of Universities, which appeared the following week on The Atlantic Web site, Mr. Allen is joined by former Sen. Bayh himself in decrying the free agency concept.
If you want to know more about what I see as the drawbacks of The Startup Act's Section 7, see my blog post: Questions Raised by “Free Agency” Tech Transfer Provisions in Startup Act.
Then, take action as suggested on the AUTM resource page:
- Meet with your federal relations officers and vice presidents for
research to educate your colleagues about the free agency concept and
its flaws
- Help AUTM reach out to faculty who are pleased with the current
technology transfer process so that the association can compile
testimonials
- Tell others that free agency is a bad idea.
If everyone who opposes free agency raises their voices against it, we
may finally be able to educate the powers that be on the realities of
implementing this concept and put this non-productive idea to rest.