On Thursday, April 4, 2024, the Bayh-Dole Coalition and the Licensing Executives Society hosted a webinar on these two threats and their consequences for U.S. taxpayers, businesses, and the economy at-large.
Event Summary
America’s global technological dominance is at risk. China openly boasts it will become the # 1 economic and military superpower as it produces 40% more in critical industries like semiconductors, receives twice as many patents, and just invested nearly $52 billion in science and technology R&D projects for 2024. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is being urged to adopt policies that undermine the system that drives American innovation.
The administration recently proposed a draft framework to radically reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 so the government can impose price controls on products based on federally-funded R&D in the name of controlling drug prices. Forced to admit that this alone cannot work, those behind this ill-conceived scheme now urge the administration to also misuse the authorities of Section 1498 of the U.S. Code so the government can seize privately-funded patents so they can be copied. This would not be limited to drugs but would apply to all fields of technology.
These proposals would:
- Undermine confidence in America’s intellectual property system;
- Discourage private sector commercialization of federally-funded technologies;
- Jeopardize public and private sector R&D partnerships which drive American innovation;
- Destroy incentives needed for start-up company formation;
- Lead to the development of fewer taxpayer-funded inventions;
- Threaten our economic growth.
SOURCE: https://bayhdolecoalition.org/american-innovation-in-peril/
EDITORS NOTE:
The Arizona Bioindustry Association is a Member of the Bayh-Dole Coalition.
To read AZBio’s Comments on the importance of Bayh-Dole to America’s Innovation Community, as submitted to NIST on the Federal Register, visit https://www.regulations.gov/comment/NIST-2021-0001-9400