Can U.S. research universities learn from IBM’s intellectual property (IP) licensing strategies? I don’t mean that universities should behave like a for-profit corporation and attempt to wring revenue out of the plethora of intellectual activity that takes place on campus. This wouldn’t work for several reasons. I mean that some elements of IBM’s IP licensing strategy might improve the way U.S. research universities manage the patents that result from publicly funded on-campus research projects.
Here are some elements of IBM’s IP licensing strategy that are revelent to university patent portfolios, although not necessarily in the way you would expect:
- IBM IP-related revenue includes payments from licensing know-how, consulting fees and other intangibles, not just patents
- Patenting decisions at IBM are de-centralized and inventors given bonuses
- Selected IBM patents are cross-licensed to other companies
- Potentially patentable IBM technologies are sometimes placed into the public domain
- Selected IBM patents are donated to open source projects
- IBM engineers search for potential patent infringements
To read the full, original article click on this link: What universities can learn from IBM’s IP licensing strategies « Triple Helix Innovation
Author: MELBA KURMAN
