Startup patenting strategies have become as sophisticated as those of incumbent companies and startup patenting costs have reached new heights — the average reported cost of a single patent was $38,000. (See the Kauffman-funded Berkeley Patent Survey of 2008, by Stuart Graham, Tech Sichelman, Robert Merges, and Pam Samuelson). The Survey data on startup patent strategies offers insight into our current university model of startup formation.
For those unfamiliar with the role US universities play in startup formation, US universities license university-owned inventions to entrepreneurs who want to form a startup; typically the recipient of a startup license is a university faculty member, students, and sometimes a person not affiliated with the university who has a passion for the technology. Startups that license university inventions, like most startups, don’t have much money and finding early-stage VC backing rarely happens. Universities want to help launch these startups. In response to faculty demand and increasing social pressure to demonstrate that they, too, have an entrepreneurial spirit, most universities will cover their startups’ patent fees in exchange for a chunk of equity or an IOU.
To read the full, original article click on this link: When university startups begin to patent like big companies « Triple Helix Innovation
Author: Melba Kurman
