Technology Transfer

Niva Elkin-KorenCenter for Law and Technology

University of Haifa October, 2005

Overview

A New Bill Encouragement of Knowledge and

Technology Transfer for the Benefit of the Public Act 2005

What is it? What does it aim to achieve? How does it offer to do it? Is it a good thing?

Encouragement of Knowledge and Technology Transfer for the Benefit of the Public Act 2005

What is technology transfer? Why Tech-transfer is necessary?

Shrinking funding of research in public sector Incentives for investments by the private sector Ideology: research should be independent of government funding

Spread the benefits of publicly funded research to the public at large Universities are not simply ivory towers: could benefit society Division of labor:

public funding generates basic research Private funding produces commercial applications An interface is necessary

Sound Familiar?

Baye-Dole Act 1980 Patent and Trademark Law Amendments of 1980 Permitting and simplifying the patenting of federally

funded research The new bill: similar purpose

Provide the legal infrastructure for tech transfer Improve efficiency Improve IP management Secure public interest

How? Ownership

Central Governance of IP: all research output is owned by Research Centers (RC) Research Centers: Governmental and public research

centers subject to the State Comptroller Act and declared as such by MOS

RC are subject to A duty to protect intellectual property in research

output A duty to engage in tech-transfer activity

Commercially exploit research output within the legal framework defined by law

Regulating Tech-Transfer Activity

Commercialization through licensing, joint ventures, sale. Exploitation within Limits:

Exploitation would not dilute ownership Sale: requires MOS approval, only when economically reasonable Joint ventures: RC should retain at least 51% of equity

Exploitation would not interfere with public interest No ownership when interfere with public interest (national security,

public health, antitrust, unreasonably preventing R&D) Compulsory license Expiration of license

Exploitation would not compromise the freedom to engage in R&D No exclusivity is allowed when it is likely to interfere with Non-commercial R&D, or Commercial R&D in areas not covered by the exclusive license

Other goals

IP Management Notice: A duty to give notice on any invention related to

research activity of the RC Monitoring: Annual reports

Licensors to RC RC to government

National interests Local manufacturing of joint ventures

May conflict with Capital Investments Law the relaxed the restrictions State’s share in revenues

Retain Individual Incentives Regulating employees’ share in revenues (ceiling and floor).

Of Possible Concern

A duty to protect IP: are patents the only venue of knowledge exchange between public and private sector? Open science / Open Source

Public universities will turn into market players disqualified of competing with private sector and producing the same

Does Baye-Dole provide a single standard that fits all? Different history of relationship government-university-

industry Israeli universities are primarily public