"Universities were never organized to develop a drug," explains Stanley G. Korenman, associate dean for ethics at University of California, Los Angeles. "We're talking about $200 million dollars, and [universities] are not going to take that risk. But the drug companies can raise the money in the capital market and spread the risk. They can only do that if they have some exclusive rights. That's why patents stimulate productivity and inventiveness."
Protecting the integrity of ideas begins during graduate school, even before a concept becomes a reality, intellectual property lawyers say. It requires gentle but firm questions during contract signings and careful record keeping. Though universities claim the rights to discoveries, many senior scientists can set their own terms for patents and licensing, regardless of their institutions' standard policies. Students who enter Korenman's course on research ethics convinced that knowledge should be free usually leave with a respect for the ...
