President Obama signed a bill last Friday that aims to institute sweeping patent reforms, which could affect the way the University competes with other institutions of higher education to obtain patents for its research.
In a statement released Friday about the America Invents Act, the White House mentioned the University as being one of "over 40 universities [that] are answering the President's call to expand their commercialization programs and goals."
"Universities were asked in time for [the bill signing] to report to the White House Office of Science and Technology" about how they are doing a better job promoting innovation and commercialization, especially in how they partner with the private sector, said Mark Crowell, executive director for innovation partnerships and commercialization at the University.
In response, the University is more heavily focusing on obtaining patents for research, with an emphasis on translational research, which can be made into commercialized products, Crowell said.\nThe new provisions could have lasting effects for the University's approach to patents.
"[The law] is going to change the calculus of how quickly to file [a patent]," University Law Prof. Christopher Sprigman said, adding that under the new act, the first inventor to file paperwork at the United States Patent and Trademark Office will win the patent for the product.
Under the old system, the University would try to patent all of its professors' and researchers' innovations. But the change from a "first to invent" to a "first to file" system will force the University to be more discerning in choosing which patents to support.
The "first to file" system will benefit large companies and institutions, which can mobilize resources to file patents quickly, while the new system may hurt small businesses, which do not necessarily have the funds to quickly generate adequate patent proposals, Sprigman explained.
Although both Sprigman and Crowell agreed the patent reform would not force many major changes in research, both said the University will have to make minor adjustments to adapt to the new law.
"It is not a dramatic change, [but] it does require us to be a little more robust and thorough,", Crowell said.
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