While passage of the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act has been widely heralded as a catalyst for the growth of applied innovation in the United States, there remain many business and legal obstacles to the successful development and commercialization of technology originating in academic and research institutions. This is particularly true in the area of biotechnology and drug development.
Two core legal issues frequently arise. Because the core mission of most of these institutions is to support teaching and research, they will usually reserve the right to continue to use the intellectual property that has been licensed to the company for broad educational and research purposes, and will also reserve the right to publish or otherwise present in a public or academic setting the fruits of that research.
