Why is it not desirable to dedicate all federally-assisted inventions to the public via publication, rather than patenting some of them?
An argument has been made that inventions resulting from federally funded research should be dedicated to the public, by publishing the details of the invention in literature available to the public. The thought is that since taxpayers paid for the invention they should have free access to it. In reality, taxpayers could only reap benefit of the invention if they had large financial resources, sophisticated technical skills and the personal interest in practicing the invention. Further, this scenario would require inventions that are ready to go to production stage. In today’s complex technological environment, federally funded research is rarely ready to go to production when universities are ready to license it. Such development is often time consuming and costly. Taxpayers do benefit from inventions by having access to a broad range of products developed by a predominantly competitive marketplace. New drugs are a prime example. If the invention has been dedicated to the public throu
Related Questions
- Why is it not desirable to dedicate all federally-assisted inventions to the public via publication, rather than patenting some of them?
- Should public authorities create a class in their publication scheme which includes the stock of libraries and archives?
- How does publication or other public disclosure affect the protection of my invention or idea?
