Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: The Changing Landscape of Patenting Behavior

(Innovations in Science and Technology)

Over the last several decades, patenting has observed a shifting landscape, both with regard to the laws organizing the system along with the incentives perceived by inventors. Our panel addresses the shifting nature of these incentives and regulations, both in universities as well as in the private sector. Collectively, the papers in this panel address the changing terrain of patenting with regard to who is doing the patenting as well as the legal grounds and competition felt by those seeking protection for their work. While a substantial body of literature exists on the nature of patenting, the papers here make a unique contribution by looking beyond the rates of patenting to understand the differing motivations, entanglements, and challenges patenting raises in the 21^stcentury.

More specifically, two of the papers included in this panel focus on entrepreneurialism among university faculty and the changing face of university-driven patents. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 encouraged universities to increase their commercialization activities, but talent and resources may yet be underutilized. The Bayh-Dole Act is not the only substantive change patenting has undergone recently, as the courts have become increasingly involved in patenting by private firms. Thus, the remaining two papers on the panel study the changing arguments used in courts to maintain patents as well as the changing legal incentives for firms to patent.