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To the Editor: In their Special Communication on university intellectual property,¹ Drs Kesselheim and Avorn describe important challenges in ensuring an intellectual property system that promotes technological innovation. In considering the legal fees and operating costs that university technology transfer operations face, there is a dramatically skewed distribution of gross income from technology licensing among research institutions in the United States, and the majority barely covers associated costs.² Institutions with thriving technology transfer operations either benefit from large amounts of sponsored research money (possibly by chance) or possess a small number of lucrative patents. These factors restrict the hope that technology transfer can independently satisfy attempts to support university research budgets.

The authors predict that limiting basic science patenting would shift corporations’ investment in academic research toward "downstream" ventures. The logic is sound but without empirical support. Two economists have recently concluded that the market for ideas might benefit . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Gregory K. Sobolski, BA, BS
sobolskig@cc.nih.gov
Department of Clinical Bioethics
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Md

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