Seok-Ho Kim
National Research Foundation of Korea, Senior Researcher, Korea

Alan S. Paau
Cornell University , Vice Provost & Executive Director, Ithaca, NY, USA

The year 2010 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 (the “Act”), which later became part of the U.S. patent Law (35 United States Code). The Act allows U.S. institutions to elect ownership of inventions that arise from work funded by the U.S. national government.

The major goal of this seminal legislation is to promote usage of such inventions for the benefit of the public. As a result of such rights and associated obligations (e.g. reporting, patenting and sharing of benefits with the inventors) under the Act, many U.S. academic institutions set up specialized professional units within or in affiliated foundations to manage their inventions.