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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of critical resource flows on technology transfer activity. The investigation focused on the impact on a university's licensing orientation of four sources of research and development (R&D) revenues: federal, state, industry, and institutional. By licensing orientation is meant the number of licenses with start-ups and small firms and licenses with large firms. The sample consisted of 104 doctoral extensive and intensive institutions for which information was available on each of the variables of interest. Data were collected from surveys and from the National Science Foundations annual reports on academic R&D. Federal R&D was a significant positive predictor of performance in both models. As was consistent with other research, federal R&D was predictive of university start-up activity. Federal dollars have declined as a share of R&D funding but many federal agencies are less likely to impose cost sharing requirements on grantees. Overall, universities seemed likely to devote institutional resources to potentially high-risk, but high-return, activities as opposed to working with large companies. Since institutional R&D is the fastest growing source of academic R&D and the one on which an institution can exercise the most control, it may be the best barometer of entrepreneurial orientation of any of the R&D funding areas. State R&D funding is more likely to be associated with large company licensing. The implications of these findings for higher education policy and practice are discussed. (Contains 52 references.) (SLD)

This study investigated institutional resource factors that may explain differential performance with university technology transfer--the process by which university research is transformed into marketable products. Using multi-source data on 108 research universities, a set of internal resources (financial, physical, human capital, and organizational) and external influences were found to be significant predictors of one or more of three technology transfer performance outcomes (patenting, licensing, and income generation from licenses). Findings included: (1) federal and industry R&D support are important contributors to patenting activity but not to licensing or income generation from licenses; (2) having a medical or engineering school was not a significant predictor of technology transfer success; (3) the quality of an institution's faculty is a critical resource associated with patenting, licensing, and licensing income; (4) there was no difference between public and private schools in technology transfer; and (5) there was a strongly negative relationship between the venture capitalization of a state and the number of licenses and licensing income, and between state support for higher education and licensing income for public institutions. (Contains 59 references.) (EV)

Written in English and French, this paper outlines current Canadian intellectual property legislation as it relates to Aboriginal people in Canada, and provides a general review of the implications and limitations of this legislation for protecting the traditional knowledge of Aboriginal people. An initial discussion of Aboriginal perspectives highlights the difference between sacred traditional knowledge, products, and services associated with traditional lifestyles of Aboriginal people, and innovations or new creations of an individual or an Aboriginal company. Not all traditional knowledge is considered to be intellectual property under Canadian law, therefore a web of strategies is suggested to better protect and control traditional Aboriginal knowledge. These strategies include community guidelines for researchers and businesses wanting access to traditional knowledge, codes of conduct, statutory options, and legal agreements and contracts. A section on intellectual property protection of Indigenous knowledge describes ownership, nature of rights, criteria for protection, scope of protection, duration, costs, enforcement, and international protection. A section on intellectual property rules applicable to Aboriginal contexts discusses copyrights, neighboring rights, industrial designs, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, plant breeders' rights, integrated circuit topographies, and licensing intellectual property. The conclusion points out the need for new techniques and laws that are more appropriate for protecting Aboriginal traditional knowledge and recommends educating non-Aboriginals to increase respect and understanding for Aboriginal traditional knowledge. Information sources presented include 17 federal, international, general, and Aboriginal Internet sources; 11 organizations; and 20 references. (TD)

Practical and policy questions concerning intellectual property are considered in the context of advancing information technology and expanding international exchange of ideas, and specifically as they are or need to be addressed by Australian copyright and patent law. A 1995 discussion paper by the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee is discussed, and a proposed model intellectual property policy is described. (MSE)

The European Patent Office (EPO) has recently implemented the last part of its ambitious automation project aimed at creating an automated search environment for approximately 1200 EPO patent search examiners. The examiners now have at their disposal an integrated set of tools offering a full range of functionalities from online searching, via full text browsing, to document delivery on the workstation screen or a nearby departmental printer. Online searching, via a common command language, is carried out in a great number of bibliographic and full-text databases on the EPO in-house host service or in commercial databases. Specially developed "dual-mode" viewer software enables the examiner easily to browse full-text documents (in character mode) and view patent images (in facsimile mode). Browsing and viewing, as online searching, are interactive operations with very short response times. The recently installed electronic document server, finally, gives access to the EPO's complete search collection comprising some 25 MIO documents, totaling approximately 14 terabytes of storage space. The storage technology is based on the use of magnetic cartridges placed in robots, which offer not an interactive online service, but rather a "near-line" service with maximum 15 minutes response time. (Author)

A discussion of evolving patent issues in university research in the United Kingdom focuses on three points: (1) attitudes within universities toward ownership and management of patents; (2) who has the right to patent inventions generated during university research; and (3) the impact patenting will have on research in the future. (MSE)

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of copyright law as it relates to computer software. The computer industry terminology, case law, and software protection by patents and trade secret legislation are examined, and it is argued that the protection of ownership rights of computer software poses major challenges to existing U.S. copyright law--and to proposals to amend existing laws--due to the rapid development of sophisticated computer technology. Software case law is characterized as an evolving area that must be concerned with subtle distinctions and characterizations of elements of computer software. Two possible courses of legislative action are discussed. The first would allow the current state of copyright law to continue without significant amendment, thereby allowing the general body of copyright law to govern software issues. It is noted that with this approach, courts would use existing law to craft appropriate methods to resolve copyright disputes, and would determine the boundaries of software copyright protection. The second course of legislative action would be to develop a new body of law specifically designed to address software issues such as ownership and protection of intellectual property. It is argued that such an approach might create comprehensive legislation to deal with software copyright issues; however, this approach has not yet received support from either the Congress or industry. References are provided throughout the document. (DB)

This report is designed to provide public and private policymakers with a broad base of quantitative information about United States science and engineering research and education and about United States technology in a global context. This document begins with a synopsis of United States science and technology. Chapter 1, "Precollege Science and Mathematics Education," discusses student's achievement, interest, and coursework, school and curriculum, teachers and teaching, and the policy context. Chapter 2, "Higher Education in Science and Engineering (S&E)," discusses the characteristics of higher education institutions, the undergraduate and graduate S&E student populations, major sources of financial support, and international science and engineering education. Chapter 3,"Science and Engineering Workforce," describes industrial S&E job patterns, demographic trends of recent S&E graduates and doctorate recipients, the supply and demand outlook for S&E personnel, and international employment of scientists and engineers. Chapter 4, "Financial Resources for Research and Development (R&D)," discusses national R&D spending patterns, federal support for R&D, state-based R&D expenditures, and international comparisons. Chapter 5, "Academic Research and Development: Financial Resources, Personnel, and Outputs," describes the financial resources for academic R&D, the doctoral scientists and engineers active in academic R&D, and outputs of academic R&D for scientific publications and patents. Chapter 6, "Technology and Global Competitiveness," describes the global markets for U.S. technology, industrial R&D, patented inventions, diffusion of technology in the industrial sector, small business and high technology, and technologies for future competitiveness. Chapter 7, "Attitudes Toward Science and Technology (S&T): The United States and International Comparisons," includes discussions on U.S. public attitudes toward S&T and international comparisons of attitudes toward S&T. Almost two-thirds of the document is composed of four appendixes which contain data tables, a list of contributions and reviewers, abbreviations, and an index. (KR)

Presents a literature review that covers the following topics related to legal aspects of the Web: copyright; domain names and trademarks; linking, framing, caching, and spamdexing; patents; pornography and censorship on the Internet; defamation; liability; conflict of laws and jurisdiction; legal deposit; and spam, i.e., unsolicited mails. (Contains 329 references.) (MES)

This interim report reviews the major incentive policy options available to accelerate market penetration of solar heating and cooling (SHAC) systems. Feasible policy options designed to overcome existing barriers to commercial acceptance and market penetration are identified and evaluated. The report is divided into seven sections, each dealing with a key problem relating to the widespread use of SHAC systems: (1) economic and financial incentives; (2) solar energy/public utility interface; (3) legal and regulatory issues; (4) Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) patent policy; (5) building codes, standards, and warranties; (6) marketing, manpower, consumer, and environmental issues; and (7) regional aspects of the incentives program. Within each of these areas the important potential barriers to the commercialization of SHAC systems are identified, assessed, and evaluated. The most effective incentive options are evaluated and in a detailed, comprehensive appendix, each of these incentive options is analyzed in depth, and numerous other potential incentives are also discussed. Listings of state solar energy legislation enacted or proposed as of January 1977 are given in the appendix. (Author/MLF)

Personal interviews and written correspondence were used to obtain information from 39 officers of companies involved in the manufacture and distribution of rehabilitation-related products, regarding their perceptions of the potential effects of various economic factors and governmental policies. An attempt was made to identify disincentives to industry participation in the field of rehabilitation technology and to discover incentives that might promote increased commercial activity. Findings are reported for the following issues: financing rehabilitation product acquisition; product identification, selection, and evaluation; market data; federal regulations; patent policy; liability insurance; professional training; and federal funding for development and manufacturing activities. Survey results suggest that industry will supply products for disabled people when market demand is present. Company leaders apparently do not consider identification or evaluation of new products to be disincentives to involvement in the rehabilitation market, nor do they consider government regulations and patent policy to be major disincentives. The primary disincentives relate to small market size, the meager financial resources available to disabled customers, and the difficulties encountered in disseminating product information. (JDD)

The proceedings of the second Preventive Law Institute, which focused on the legal aspects of educational uses of technology, are included in this report. Following the preface, two overviews (Thomas M. Griffin, Fred "Rick" W. Weingarten) provide an introduction to preventive law for educators and explore the nature of information technology and its application to education. The following two papers are titled "Negotiating Contracts for the Acquisition of Computer Hardware and Software by State Education Agencies and Some Comments on Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights" (Shannon T. Vale) (an outline of this paper is provided in Appendix B) and "Students' Rights: Privacy and Equal Access and Teachers' Traditional Role and Hesitancy to Change" (Thomas M. Griffin). Next is a summary of the discussions of the following four issues: (1) technological effectiveness and computer literacy, (2) equal access and equity; (3) educational changes and teacher training, and (4) the legal issues of contract negotiation and infringement of patents and copyrights on hardware and software. Following this summary is a report of a roundtable discussion of legislative barriers to full use of new technology in education. A closure session, dealing with suggestions, strategies, and resources, is also reported. Appendix A provides the agenda and descriptions of the presenters, participants, and institute staff. (DCS)

The concept of owning knowledge is somewhat ethereal and until recently had little relevance to academic institutions. In principle any object that is capable of being controlled is capable of being owned. The most basic control concerns decisions about whether to communicate knowledge. The philosophical foundation which is the basis of the legal recognition of intellectual property in the United States is Article One, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, "Progress of Science and Useful Arts." Underlying the system is, as the U.S. Supreme Court has stated, "the conviction that encouragement of individual effort by personal gain is the best way to advance public welfare through the talents of authors and inventors." At issue is what kind of knowledge should have exclusive ownership rights, and under what conditions. Patent laws do not protect basic scientific discoveries but only the method for making practical use of them. While there may be some reasons for not recognizing proprietary rights in theoretical knowledge, one may suspect that the main arguments against such recognition relate to resulting complex administrative problems. The proprietary view of knowledge could have a very damaging effect both on the way scientists share information and on how topics are selected for research. The time has come when universities have to establish policies regulating the exploitation for personal gain of knowledge obtained while doing scientific research as a member of a university community. (PPB)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Science Resources Services designs and conducts surveys related to, and supports other data collection activities dealing with, science resources. The data from these surveys and data collection efforts are used by NSF and others to analyze various research and development (R&D) funding and scientific and technical labor market issues. This document, a guide to the recurring portions of these databases, provides information on survey scope, sample size, pertinent variables, and survey instrument (copy included where appropriate). Surveys described are presented in three sections. They are: (1) scientific and technical resources--experienced scientists and engineers, doctoral recipients, federally employed scientists and engineers, scientific and technical personnel employed at universities and colleges, recent science and engineering graduates, doctorate records file, survey of graduate science and engineering students and postdoctorates, and foreign scientists and engineers; (2) science and technology funding resources--federal funds for R&D; industrial R&D; federal support to universities, colleges, and selected nonprofit institutions; and scientific and engineering expenditures at universities and colleges; and (3) science and technology inputs and outputs--science indicators literature database and counts of patents applied for and granted in the United States. (JN)