The knowledge that college students get from their education might be priceless. But a price can be put on the intellectual property generated by universities: about $1.8 billion was earned in the 2011 fiscal year by institutions of higher education that commercialized their academic research, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
However, the money generated from universities’ intellectual property can be put into college coffers only if the appropriate legal protections are in place. The role of lawyers in protecting the IP output of universities is being highlighted by a lawsuit Brown University has filed against a Connecticut law firm. Brown’s outside patent counsel allegedly let expire a patent for a high-resolution scanning, magnetic microscope.
