Licensing government-funded technologies at the University of California

It is pointed out that the passage of recent statutes reflects the country´s increased emphasis on the transfer of technology through licensing patent rights as a more efficient means of moving technology originating at universities and federal laboratories into the private sector. Technology transfer enhances competitiveness in industry and provides increased benefits to the public from federally funded scientific investigation. It is suggested that licensing background patent rights with an option to future improvement patents greatly increases the ability of government laboratories and universities to enter into fruitful collaborative research with industry, thereby stretching the available research money. The licensing philosophy of the office of Technology Transfer at the University of California is presented.<>