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Mistaken Assumptions: The Roots Of Stanford V. Roche In Post-War Government Patent Policy, Sean M. O'Connor

Sean M. O'Connor

The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 was built on a mistaken assumption that “contractors”—recipients of federal funding—were securing assignments of inventions from their employees. The roots of this assumption go back to a 1947 Attorney General report on government patent policy that glossed over its own detailed finding that universities were in many cases not doing so. Because other types of contractors, including private firms and nonprofit research institutions, generally were securing title, the report concluded that “most” contractors were doing so. The report itself was the culmination of a century of confusing and conflicting legal developments with regard to both …