Patent Law Practice Center

A conversation with AUTM President Fred Reinhart

Since the middle of February 2016, Fred Reinhart (left) is now the immediate past president of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). I recently had the opportunity to go on the record with Reinhart as he was winding down his tenure as president of AUTM.

During Reinhart’s year as President, much changed at AUTM. There was a concerted effort to transition to a a strategic board of directors that would result in more dynamic member engagement, AUTM hired a full-time Executive Director, the organization spent a great deal of time developing more effective relationships with industry, AUTM bolstered its relationships with key university organizations, and AUTM began more earnestly working on international initiatives. While more progress was made in some areas than in others, progress has been achieved across the board. All-in-all, Reinhart’s tenure at the helm of AUTM was quite successful and he has helped focus the organization on the challenges that lie ahead as he hands the reins to new president David Winwood.

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Patented University Technology Creates Jobs

On Monday, August 5, 2013, the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) released the highlights of the AUTM U.S. Licensing Activity Survey: FY2012. The full results of the survey won’t be available until later this year, but the “highlights” release does provide some interesting quantitative information about licensing activities at U.S. universities, hospitals and research institutions.

Institutions responding to the survey reported startup companies formed by 70 institutions employed 15,741 full-time employees. The survey also showed:

• 22,150 total U.S. patent applications filed (+11.3%)
• 14,224 new patent applications filed (+7.2%)
• 5,145 issued U.S. patents (+9.5%)
• 5,130 licenses executed (+4.7%)
• 1,242 options executed (+7%)
• 483 executed licenses containing equity (+16.1%)
• Total license income: $2.6 billion (+6.8%)
• 705 startup companies formed (+5.1%)
• 4,002 startups still operating as of the end of FY2012 (+1.9%)

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CAFC Chief Defends the Patent System and Defines “Patent Troll”

Recently Chief Judge Rader of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit made a strong defense of the patent system in a chat billed as a fireside chat at the AUTM annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. In his opening salvo into the issue of patent litigation abuse, the Chief explained:

Interestingly, that has been misdirected towards the patent system. Even earlier this afternoon I received an invitation from a House Committee to come and talk about abuse of the patent system. I’m not sure I’ll be able to attend, but if I could attend I’ll tell you exactly what I would say: There is nothing wrong with the patent system.

The patent system has a narrow focus. It is not a consumer affairs program. It is not a manufacturer’s guarantee compliance program. It’s not a competition program.  It has one objective, summarized well by the Constitution: promote the progress of science and the useful arts. It’s there to create more investment and more incentive for innovation and invention. The things that the patent system is criticized for are not its job.

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