Penn State IP goes under the hammer

Pennsylvania State, a US-based public research university, is taking a new approach to licensing patents developed by its staff and students. It’s believed to be the first university to hold an auction of intellectual property developed by its own staff.

The idea was put together by Ron Huss and Don Mothersbaugh from the university’s Research and Tech Transfer office, who realised that two-thirds of patents were not being licensed. Although other institutions had already tried auctioning off patents, Penn State decided to forego an auction house because esoteric patents such as “active-passive hybrid constrained layer for structural damping augmentation” are a tough sell to auctioneers who work on commission and could likely only make a few thousand dollars.

Putting together their own auction also allows Penn State to keep full control, and so they launched patents.psu.edu with a similar functioning to that of eBay. Huss’s and Mothersbaugh’s aim is to sell about 15-20% of the patents. Right now they are yet to sell a single one, although they are being contacted by companies that are interested in patents not yet listed.

But Robin Feldman, a law professor and director of the Institute for Innovation Law, points out that a danger of Penn State’s auction is that it might sell to patent trolls, non-practicing entities whose sole aim it is to tax and sue other companies that might infringe on one of their patents. If Penn State’s model proves successful, other universities might follow suit, and many patents could end up with such trolls, stifling innovation.

Ron Huss remains hopeful and said: “The auction has drawn much, much more attention than we would’ve ever imagined, and it seems to have captured people’s imagination.”