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Have you ever wondered why patent licensing matters? Maybe you’ve heard the words “tech transfer” and weren’t sure exactly what that means. We’ll define both terms below and explain why they are critical to American inventors.

Patent Licensing

If you follow our blog, you’ve seen posts about patent licensing like this one covering why universities matter. But what is patent licensing?

When you think about patents today, you probably think of technology or medicine. But, there’s a whole segment of innovation in the United States that isn’t based on processors, microchips or biological breakthroughs. Enter Frances Prado, whose garment-based product, Hanging Secrets has been successful in part because she protected it with a patent. We interviewed Frances to learn more about her story. Here is an abbreviated transcript:

Save The Inventor: Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your history leading up to your idea for Hanging Secrets.

Having no success so far in pushing through further far-reaching legislation in Congress, proponents of weaker patent rights have been searching for new avenues to achieve their aims. One of the latest efforts, led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), is to try to convince the public that universities shouldn’t be allowed to license their patents to other non-practicing entities, businesses that license technology but don’t manufacture themselves.

That’s a dangerous position to hold and one that we need to dispel. Here’s why: