An Initial Look at Federal Offices of Research and Technology Applications

In Science—The Endless Frontier, Vannevar Bush wrote that reaping the potential benefits of science conducted at federal laboratories requires the discoveries made in the laboratories be transferred to society. In federal laboratories, Offices of Research and Technology Applications (ORTAs) are tasked with transferring laboratory-developed technologies to the market, allowing society to reap the benefits provided by scientific investments. In fiscal year 2016, the Technology Partnerships Office of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted a first-of-its-kind survey of the ORTAs of more than 50 federal laboratories to obtain information on their organization and operation. We present descriptive analyses of the responses to this survey in two topical areas: organizational characteristics and technology transfer characteristics. We disaggregated the data across the dimension of budget size to describe similarities and differences in responses across the budget categories. Among the relationships we observed, we found that ORTAs with larger technology transfer budgets report higher frequencies of conducting internal technology transfer activities, such as patent prosecution (e.g., drafting patents, filing patent applications, and responding to actions from the patent office) and market analysis. Additionally, we provide context to the data by summarizing the relevant research on ORTAs at universities, and we present potential inferences that may be drawn from that body of research and applied to the data on ORTAs at federal laboratories.

Uncle Sam wants you to be the first-inventor-to-file for nanotechnology inventions

By the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), the U.S. patent system is experiencing the most significant reform since the U.S. Patent Act was enacted some 60 years ago. This article focuses on one aspect of the AIA that has perhaps triggered the biggest debate, namely the conversion under the U.S. Patent laws from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-inventor-to-file” system. The change to the first-inventor-to file system has broad implications to all entities filing patents in the U.S. Under the new first-inventor-to-file system, the emphasis is now on filing patent applications in the U.S. Patent Office even more quickly than before. Thus, a strategy to file early and often (including using provisional applications) will generally better protect against a later inventor winning the race to the U.S. Patent Office.

Recent Landmark Changes in Japanese Biotechnology & University Patenting (Part I)

This article will discuss the recent landmark policy reforms to Japan's university, intellectual property, science & technology, and biotechnology policy environments which seek to jump-start Japan's underperforming biotechnology sector by encouraging Japanese universities to patent and transfer the fruits of their research to industry or venture startups. If academic researchers at Japanese universities publish their research prior to filing patent applications, in view of their unfamiliarity with patent law, such publications will not destroy all Japanese patent rights in view of Japan's novelty grace period and the designation of several universities to enjoy such grace period benefits. The article concludes that these landmark changes could serve to positively transform Japan's biotechnology sector.