Editor's Summary
13 March 2008
Follow the money
Since 1980, US patent law has allowed universities to register patents for inventions made from federally funded research, and to exploit them either through a spin-off company or via licensing deals. But the academic sector has not prospered as much as was hoped. Some patents escape the clutches of the university in which the work was done and find their way to third-party companies. A new report suggests that this phenomenon of 'patent diversion' is more common than was thought.
Business Feature: Business: Stepping out
A surprisingly large number of university-inspired patents may be going to industry instead. Rex Dalton reports.
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/452146a