Nelson Quoted on Commerce Department’s ‘March-In’ on Harvard’s Patents
Law360
Partner Kevin M. Nelson was quoted on the feasibility of the US Department of Commerce’s unprecedented use of “march-in” rights under the Bayh-Dole Act to request a list of patents owned by Harvard University that used government funds to support the underlying research.
Kevin noted the difficulty the government would have in exercising march-in rights, as the Trump Administration has already prioritized downsizing the federal workforce.
“You are dealing with a bunch of different technologies across a bunch of different areas. You’re dealing with a bunch of work that’s in different stages,” he said. “The typical challenge of determining the value of the use, including who can actually do the work, is going to be many times multiplied.”
He added that even figuring out when the university has done enough to try licensing its patent is an “amorphous standard.”
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