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Do public institutions hold patents?
Many public institutions and government agencies have obtained and continue to apply for and obtain patents. For example, the following numbers of patents were granted to these leading universities between 1969 and 2000, according to the PTO:
- University of California, The Regents of - 3,203 patents
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology - 2,264 patents
- Stanford University - 1,064 patents
- California Institute of Technology - 955 patents
These patents cover a wide range of discoveries, such as novel compositions (e.g., pharmaceuticals), methods of conducting research, methods of treating and diagnosing disease and methods of improving agriculture. They also include design patents (e.g., architectural designs, mechanical designs and textiles). In the biotechnology area, one key patent held by Stanford University (the "Cohen-Boyer patent") covered until its expiration the basic method of making recombinant DNA; any commercial entity using recombinant DNA was required to obtain a license from Stanford and to pay the university annual fees plus a royalty on the sales of any product developed using the recombinant technology.
Government Filings
Government agencies also file for and obtain patents. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the National Institutes of Health, has obtained over 1,200 patents. These patents cover a wide range of discoveries affecting the quality of human health, including methods of detection and treatment of disease, methods of conducting scientific research, individual genes and proteins, and the use of such genes and proteins.
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