Someone posted this on Facebook, and it reminded me of a topic we talked about very early on in the class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nuDcYcrbTU

… then here’s a link that provides a list of some of the most notable intellectual property disputes between universities and their faculty – and students!

http://www.ipadvocate.org/forum/dispute.cfm?Type=Disputes

Here’s a well-known case involving the University of Pennsylvania, which sued Professor Albert Kligman, who invented Retin-A. Penn claimed that he violated the university’s patent policy.

http://www.leagle.com/decision/19911974762FSupp1212_11790.xml/UNIVERSITY%20PATENTS,%20INC.%20v.%20KLIGMAN

Dr. Kligman was already somewhat notorious for experiments he had conducted on prisoners. Here’s a Wikipedia entry about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Kligman

If you all remember, during the last class before spring break, I mentioned a case in which a university had been sued under the False Claims Act for fraudulent submissions to the NIH. The case is U.S. ex rel Zissler v University of Minnesota.  (Zissler sued as a qui tam relator, and the U.S. intervened and took over the action.)

Here’s the Eighth Circuit opinion: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-8th-circuit/1349506.html

And the University of Minnesota eventually settled the case with the U.S. government for $32M!!! Here’s a link from the DOJ about the settlement: http://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/1998/November/549civ.htm 

While this article is not exactly in step with today’s reading, I found it to be an interesting example of the ways that universities are looking to trim costs for students. OER, open education resources, allows to students to eliminate the costs of purchasing textbooks and, in turn, provide an easier means of entry for a student wishing to take a class but deterred by the cost of materials. The article notes that textbook costs have increased by over 80% in the last decade and that some community colleges are going so far as to even create “Z-degrees” which are degree programs that have zero associated costs for textbooks.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/02/23/community_college_online_the_promise_of_zero_textbook_cost_degrees.html

And another one:

http://www.ober.com/publications/1820-federal-research-grant-recipients-face-false-claims-lawsuit

Here’s a link to a law firm that does a lot of work in health care law:

 http://www.mintz.com/newsletter/2014/Newsletters/4011-0513-NAT-HL/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/us/ac-alleged-science-fraud-investigation/

Regardless of how the law of university technology commercialization is structured (Bayh-Dole or a professor-ownership model), sufficient mechanisms must be put in place to prevent the misappropriation of federal grant money.  Because federal agencies rely heavily on self-reporting by universities, such a system opens the door to abuse.  Self-reporting also creates difficulties in enforcing Bayh-Dole’s provisions.  The above article is a recent instance of misappropriation by a university employee costing millions of taxpayers’ dollars.